Switch It Up
by Incognito Indigo
Summary: It was supposed to be simple. Roxas, smart and reserved, was supposed to switch places with his younger twin Sora, athletic and social, and take the final exams for him. No one was supposed to find out, get caught, or fall in love. [AxelxRoxas, RikuxSora]
1. Cereal vs Radio

I'm writing another AxelRoxas fic! And this time it's RikuSora too! Whoot!

This idea has been running around my head for quite a while now, so I decided to catch up to it and tackle it down on paper…or keyboard…whatever.

I've got another story too. "How Close is Close Enough?" It's another akuroku, I thought it was cute, lol. (Again with the TBS obssession.)

**Disclaimers:** I own nothing…...really, I don't.

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**Cereal vs Radio**

xXxXx

The brightest of rays penetrated through Sora's bedroom window and shone against his cinnamon colored hair. The 17 year old pulled his blanket up over his head to block the sunlight, but his alarm clock told him otherwise.

_"When you, are out there on that road..."_

Alright time to get up.

_"...For several weeks it shows, and when you scan the radio..."_

Sora extended a handout from beneath the bundle of blankets he was underneath and hit the button on his alarm clock gently.

_"...I hope this song will guide you ho-"_

The clock stopped and Sora was almost reluctant to hear the song end. It was a nice peaceful piece of music, with soft soothing beats in the background. Sora's twin brother never understood his choice of listening (but that was okay, because Sora didn't understand Roxas' punk metal either.)

Especially with his alarm choice. Most people would rather fall asleep to the Postal Service then wake up to them. But Sora was usually long awake before his clock would start up, and he liked to enjoy the peaceful music at the start of each morning. Something Roxas would never understand

The brunet got out of bed and carefully picked out his clothes. Too baggy jeans, some chains, a belt to hold them up, some more chains, a red sweatshirt, and more chains and belts, totally within his school dress code of course.

As he pulled his favorite hoodie over his head, it got stuck in his hair, which he never combed, and Sora spent a good few seconds freeing it. But good thing too. The cotton pressed against his ears muffles the sounds of very loud music playing, which Sora guessed to be coming from Roxas' room.

_"YOUR LIPSTICK, HIS COLLAR, DON'T BOTHER ANGEL..."_

As Sora got his sweatshirt fitted down, he was able to hear the lyrics loud and clear. However, 'loud' might have been the understatement of the year. Roxas' alarm was blaringly, excruciatingly, painfully, ear-bleeding loud.

It meant nothing that Roxas room was all the way at the other end of the hallway and his music could still be heard in Sora's room. The brunet was pretty sure he would still be able to hear it downstairs in a soundproof basement with earplugs. Let alone his neighbors and people 10 blocks away could almost hear it.

_ALMOST_ being the keyword here. Because Sora was pretty sure that when he reached his brother's room, Roxas would still be sound asleep.

xXxXx

Roxas had a sure fire plan on how to wake up every morning. You see, Roxas was a late sleeper and if no one woke him up, he'd likely be sleeping until the end of the world. It didn't help that he was a heavy sleeper too. And here lies the problem for no amount of noise on the volume notch of his alarm clock would help.

So even though the noise didn't wake _him_, it woke _Sora_, who would _then_ wake him. And that's how his plan was executed. It was a daily routine that Sora never saw through, and Roxas merely kept the radio for that reason. In better detail...

Every morning his alarm clock would play a song he loved (and knew Sora hated), at an ungodly volume. The disturbance would then trigger Sora to wake up, then anger him, which then have him come storming down the hallway to his bedroom, which would cause Sora to break down his door, followed by an angry disheveled Sora to drag Roxas out of bed, thus...waking him.

It was a very complex wake-up system, which called for much work on his younger brother's behalf, (and a very high tolerance level from their neighbors.) But it worked for the past three years and Roxas wasn't about to change it. Something that Sora would never understand.

_"Well which would you prefer?"_

Roxas vaguely heard footsteps as his wake-up caller stormed down the hallway to his room.

_"My finger on the trigger or..."_

A pounding noise cause by Sora's fist contacting with his thin wooden door told Roxas that he would have to wake up soon.

_"Me face down, down across your floor."_

Muffled sounds of his younger brother calling his name, followed by the breaking down of his door.

"Roxas! Get the hell up! And turn off you stupid radio, it's driving me crazy!"

With his bedroom door still acting as a barrier Roxas turned over in his slumber, figuring he still had a good 20 seconds left to sleep. Bringing his pillow up across his head to drown out the death threats of his brother, even though he was already awake. He would have gotten up by now, but this was his favorite song...

"ROXAS. GET. UP. NOW!"

The blond rolled over with his back to the door. With the pillow still covering his head and his eyes still shut, he sang along to his favorite line...

_"Well just so long as this thing's loaded..." _

A crash was heard as Roxas' door collided with his bedroom wall. An angry Sora stormed in and marched over to Roxas' bedside, pulling the covers off and removing the pillow.

"Roxas, I said wake up! You're going to be late for school! And you know how important school is!"

Sora did a double take.

"Actually only _your_ school is important, because it's the smart school. I don't even care about school. But you should! Because if you're late then you'll miss all those tests and then you'll fail high school and never make it into college and become a lawyer like you wanted to ever since you were four and saw that law and order show, and then I'll have to support the family. Except I can't because I'm suppose to fail high school before you do. And do you have any idea how weird this all sounds coming from me? And hey! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING ROXAS?"

Noticing that his brother had paid absolutely no attention on his "how one morning can ruin your life" speech, he walked over towards his brother's bed stand and turned the offending alarm off. This earned his an immediate reaction.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Well at least _that _got his attention.

Seeing the blond scramble from his comfortable bed to turn the radio back on, Sora quickly pulled it out of his reach. He dangled the alarm clock, unplugged in all it's glory.

Sora gave his 'older brother' a disapproving look.

"Rox, why do we have to go through this every morning? Do you even have any idea what time it is?"

"6:45" replied Roxas. The blond gave up on rescuing his radio, and made for the bed as if he were to go back to sleep again.

Sora sighed. "If you want this back, go get dressed and meet me downstairs."

And with that he left, taking the prized possession with him. With nothing left to do but get ready for school, Roxas began to gather his scattered school uniform. Secretly envying Sorafor his school's lack of a dress code.

It was folded neatly on a dresser. After getting his buttoned up shirt and pants on, an idea struck him. _Two can play at this game._...Sora might have taken his radio, but he still had his voice. Which mind you was worse than anything you've ever heard before.

Roxas grabbed his tie and started singing at the top of his lungs.

_"And will you tell all your friends, you've got your gun to my head?"_

Now where were his socks?

_"This all was only wishful thinking..."_

Roxas looked under his bed. Oh, there's a sock...

_"This all was only wishful thinking…"_

No where was the other one?

"ROXAS I SWEAR! IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO THROW THIS THING. _OUT_. _THE_. _WINDOW!"_

The blond thought about this for a moment, then shouted back his reply.

"But you're on the first floor!"

He was then met with silence, then...

"Oh look! I see a car coming by. I wonder what the sound of tires on plastic sounds like?"

Roxas took this as a cue to shut up and stop pushing his brother further down the line. Pulling on his newfound socks, he grabbed his coat and ran down the stairs.

Moving along the hallway, Roxas made it into an empty kitchen. (The Katsurada boys never ate there, it reminded them too much of their mother...) Making a quick trip to the cupboards, Roxas pulled on the handle and grabbed a box of cereal. Fruit Loops. Sora's favorite.

The blond walked outside into the living room, where his brother was seated on a couch watching the early morning cartoons. Roxas stepped behind him and tapped the top of his spiky head to get him to turn around. Sora diverted his gaze from the TV and was met with his older brother's outstretched hand, holding the box of cereal. Roxas muttered the object of offering.

"Cereal."

Sora reached behind him and pulled the alarm clack from beneath the couch cushion, and handed it over to Roxas in the same manner.

"Radio."

And thus the early morning trade-off ritual was complete.

Roxas jumped over the back of the couch and landed next to Sora. The brunet stuffed his hand into the cereal box and began to eat the fruity goodness. Roxas usually skipped breakfast, something Sora disapproved of. Not like there was anything good to eat here though.

The only sounds that could be heard was the occasional crashes and laughter from the TV set and Sora's munching. The younger of the two took this moment to observe his brother and hopefully better understand their relationship. The morning activities that occurred every day was the furthest their brotherly rivalry ever went. But even with their friendly fighting, Sora couldn't help but think that Roxas was only doing it on Sora's behalf. He had never been able to connect with his older brother.

Sora was the happy-go-lucky one. Being the younger of the two, he had less responsibilities. With not a care in the world, Sora kept an upbeat attitude and loved to socialize with anyone in sight, whether they wanted to or not. This being the case that morning. Even though Sora had spent a whole one-side conversation with Roxas this morning, his brother hadn't bothered to speak more than 10 words to him (minus the singing of course).

Roxas wasn't always like this. He wasn't sure when it had happened,maybe sometime around the divorce of their parents. After their mother had left them, Roxas seemed to be a bit more reserved and colder to everyone around him.

Although not Sora, never Sora.

_He remembered that one night when it had rained really hard. Hewas lying curled up in Roxas' bed, because he was too afraid and lonely to sleep alone that night. But not because of the thunderstorm. Roxas had been standing next to the window, looking out into the rain. Not hearing the drops on the window pane, but the sound of their mother's car as the engine started up.Followed bymore shouting, the last they would ever hear of her voice, and then she was gone._

_Sora had burst out crying. But he felt Roxas grab hold of his shoulders gently but firmly. Telling him it was going to be okay. That he should stop crying because tears weren't going to solve anything. That Sora had to be strong, because their dad was going to have to work two jobs now to support them, so all they had left was each other. Sora believed every word his brother told him and hug him. Roxas had let him do it, but Sora faintly remembered that he never hugged him back._

That was the night that Roxas had become serious.He wasn't unfeeling and unemotional or anything, Sora was sure there were some emotions still left in him. But he had became more detached to everything around him, to the extent that others had noticed it and taken concerntoo. So Sora took it as his responsibility to watch over his brother and take care of him when he decided to look for help.

"Sora, pass the remote."

_Yes, 14 words!_ Sora mentally thought and did as he was told. He watched as the blond took the remote and flipped through the channels. His blue eyes, lighter than Sora's, stared intently at the screen. The morning light and TV illumination reflecting patterns of light across Roxas' semi-stoic face and dirty blond hair.

xXxXx

Roxas noticed as Sora went back to watching the TV. His brother had been observing him again. He hated when people did that. Stare at him like he had problems. Like he needed help, _their _help. _As if anyone could fix him._ He thought irritably, but didn't let it show on his face. _I'm not broken, so there nothing to fix._

Roxas mentally checked himself. He couldn't be mad at Sora. Because Sora was all he had, and he was all Sora had. Or at least that was what he tried to deluded himself into thinking. Which was probably why he didn't have many friends. But only because he didn't need them...kind of.

But it always wasn't always like this. Roxas had plenty of friends back then. When they still lived on that island. Before their father lost his job there and made them move to Twilight Town and attend separate schools. It was suppose to help them, give them all a new start.

He saw Sora sneak another glance at him. Roxas let his brother delude himself into thinking that he had fooled his brother with his oh-so-sly antics, even thought he was quite obvious about it. But Roxas would never confront him about it. He didn't mind so much when Sora tried to help. But it was starting to get annoying now as Sora had convinced himself that his 'help' was working and tried to 'help him' more often.

Roxas settled on a channel and watched it until he noticed something about Sora. His pants...they were too big for him.

"Sora."

The brunet looked over, delight shone in his dark blue orbs at being addressed for the second time that morning. A smile plastered his face.

"Those are _my_ pants aren't they?"

His eyes widen and the smile faded into a nervous curve as he stumbled over his words.

"Um...no...they're..."

"Yes they are, look! They're _white_ at the bottom and _black_ at the top. You know those are my two favorite colors!"

Sora clung to his jeans protectively.

"They're my favorite colors too!"

"No they're not! You like red!"

Sora whimpered. "But I have a pair too...because...uhhh"

"Don't try and fool me Sora. Look, see that cut? That's where I fell off my skateboard and skinned my knee. It's the _exact same_ spot!"

The brunet whimper another sound of defeat. He knew he had lost that round, but he wasn't expecting the next comment.

"Give them back."

"WHAT?"

"Urgh, no. I meant as in go upstairs, take them off, put your stupid old ones on, and then give _those_ back to me."

"Oh."

Sora pulled his legs closer to himself and hugged his knees. He brought his face down and looked up from his stolen-jean-clad knees. Trying to imitate a kicked puppy look, complete with watery sapphire eyes looking up from beneath his brown bangs.

"But they look better on me..."

"No. They don't." He said deadpanned.

"But you can't wear them anyway! Your private school doesn't let you!"

Roxas opened his mouth to say something. But stopped and closed it again. That part was true; unlike the jeans looking better on him comment. After moving to a larger city, their father thought it would be nice to let them attend the schools they wanted to. The ones that accentuated their talents.

Roxas attended Oblivion High. The gifted and talented magnet school. The teachers were strict and most students were too busy studying, this left little room for socializing. Just the way Roxas liked it.

His brother on the other hand, could never handle a school like this. Instead, he was good at sports. Quite the athlete really, and his positive attitude made for a great team atmosphere. So he attended Destiny High School.

"Fine."

Roxas was about to give up when he noticed something else.

"Sora, you're wearing my belts too!"

"Um...I need them to hold up the pants..."

"BUT ALL FOUR OF THEM?"

"Well see, the first two were kinda loose and I neede-"

"Never mind."

Roxas waved off his brother's strange behavior and started to get read to leave for school. But then his untapped brotherly instincts kicked in.

"Sora, why do you even dress like that? That's hardly your style."

In fact, everything that Sora ever wore to school were his. And it was really weird to see your younger brother dress like you, wear your hair like you, and attempt to act like you at times. And besides, Sora could _not_ pull off the emo look. It just died on him.

"All the guys at my school wear clothes like these." Sora paused a bit to contemplate it "And I need to blend in, because Axel always makes fun of my oth-"

"You shouldn't care what your friends say about your clothes."

Roxas was about to go into a speech of how peer pressure shouldn't effect a sweet little kid like Sora (even thought he was a junior…). That he shouldn't give a damn about how his friends want him to dress. But the clock on the wall told him that if he didn't get moving now he would never make it to school on time, so he settled on a different choice of words.

"You shouldn't care what Axel thinks either."

Roxas had never met this guy. But Axel was all the Sora ever talked about, he does this, he does that, he likes to beat those people up. He sounded like the type of person Roxas loved to hate.

The older of the two opened the door and threw his skateboard on the ground. He headed towards the right of the sidewalk. If he took the shortcut he still might make it on time.

Sora on the other hand started to make his way towards the left.

xXxXx

"Sora!" A leather clad hand was clamped on his shoulder and Sora turned around in his seat.

"Hey Axel, what's up?"

"Nothin' much. How did it go with your brother...Roxor...Roxy..."

"My brother _Roxas_ is fine." said Sora sternly. He wasn't sure if the redhead was just playing with him, or if his memory was seriously screwed. But he got rid of that thought as the events of that morning popped into his head.

"I got him to talk more today!" said the brunet beaming.

"Oh, that's great! Did he open up to you more?"

"No..."

In truth, all that Roxas said to him that morning were scolds, insults, and demands for his clothes back. But Sora didn't mind, it made him feel like their brotherly connection was back. Not that he was about to tell Axel of course.

"Sora!"

The brunet faced his other speaker.

"Hayner, Pence, Olette. Hey you guys!"

Sora was reluctantly swept up in a conversation with the trio before he could explain the improvements of his brother with Axel. He figured he could talk to these three too, since they actually _knew_ Roxas. Before they went to separate High schools, they all attended Dual Middle School. That was where Sora had befriended them, Roxas on the other hand looked more like he barely tolerated them.

As Sora was about to end their conversation about the latest Ice Cream Shop opening he noticed their teacher walk in. 20 minutes late of course. Ms. Yuna gave the class a quick greeting and started to write out a problem no one has bother to do for homework the previous night.

"Now class, there are going to be taking exams next week. The final exams are very important and I hope you all do well on them."

She turned around and gave the class a stern look. "Failure to pass may result in repeating a grade."

Behind him Sora could hear Axel give a snort. The redhead had already repeated a grade. He was 18 and was suppose to be a senior but had failed his freshmen year...not because he didn't pass his exams, but something to do with setting the school on fire.

No one took education in this school seriously. The only reason this school was still standing was because of it's outstanding athletic department. Who has time for studying when there's practice to be attending? In fact a lot of people usually did skip class…

From the corner of his eye Sora could see a stash of red slowly inch its way closer to the door. But before Axel could reach it, another teacher opened it. One hand on the doorknob, the other holding a cup of coffee.

"Ms. Yuna? There's a...'meeting'...at the teacher's lounge."

The brown-hair teacher tore her gaze off the chalk board she had been writing on and faced the being that interrupted the lesson at the doorway. Although she was a teacher, she had complete disregard in setting a good example for her students concerning dress limits. Her outfit was anything but revealing and her hair made one dizzy. Braids and bead galore, which she probably spent all her time fixing instead of teaching.

"It's _urgent_."

Half the class noticed the wink the blonde gave to go with the comment.

"Oh!" Their math teacher quickly replaced the chalk and turned towards the class.

Sora never tried to look at her directly because he always found himself staring at her mix-match eyes in a very unromantic way. Then would begin his investigation of which one was the color contact. The green one with swirls definitely looked like something you could buy at a thrift store. But then why was the teacher always rubbing the eye with the blue one? Hmm, maybe they're both color contacts. I mean, why would you just wear one?

Sora saw but didn't hear their teacher mutter an apology for her absence. With a quick note that she'll be back and that everyone should behave, Yuna left the room to follow Rikku.

"Alright! So Sora, what did you want to tell me again?"

In truth, Sora hadn't mentioned anything about wanting to talk to Axel. But he must have given off vibes and Axel had noticed them. The redhead was particularly good at that.

All thoughts about his brothers were lost at the news.

"Axel! How am I gonna pass those exams! I barely passed last years!"

The should-be senior behind him gave a 'hmfp' and crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat.

Sora knew that grades weren't important to people in this school. After all, the only ones who it mattered to were at Roxas' school.

"Ughh, I wish I could trade places with Roxas and _he _could take theses exams for me..."

The redhead raised a delicate eyebrow, a smile twitched into place. Usually the first signs of a scheme...

"Then why don't you?"

"Huh?"

Upon seeing the puzzled look on Sora's face, Axel decided to explain his plan a bit better. He took a dramatic intake of breath before he began.

"You..." he pointed his finger at Sora "...and your brother Roxit..." (_"Roxas!"_) he used his other hand to point else where, "...switch places!" and he transferred the literal meaning to his fingers to emphasis it.

"Axel! That only works in movies!"

The redhead gave a shrug and gave a nonchalant reply. "Just give it a try."

Sora sat back in his seat and pondered it a bit. Well, it _could_ work. Roxas and him really did look alike, a part from the hair color. But they could always lie and say they hade it dyed or something...

"Hey Sora."

Axel had joined a group of his friends across the room and they were now heading for the door, planning on skipping school while their teacher was away. He gestured with his hand that he wanted Sora to come along.

"You coming or what?" He said with a smirk.

Sora got up to join them. Thoughts of how he would introduce the idea to Roxas running through his head. And after a few minutes, he had a perfectly laid out plan. It was sure to work.

xXxXx

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**Indigo:** I slacked off on the second part of this chapter, was it obvious? Did you noticed a difference? I also had originally planned for Roxas' school scene to be part of chapter 1. But this just got so long! So check in next chapter, that's where the fun really begins. -wink- 

Omigosh. Sora trying to get into Roxas' pants…..AND THEY'RE BROTHERS! Or at least in this fic, I hadn't really planned on it turning out like that. But I did enjoy writing their brotherly scenes together. Older brothers are fun. I annoy mine all the time. XD

Song Credit goes to "Such Great Heights" by Postal Service and "Cute without the 'E'" by Taking Back Sunday. Ahh, Roxas singing along to TBS, that totally completes my life. And I learned from experience and my friends that if you don't like TBS, their songs can become very painful to listen to in the morning…

And in case anyone is wondering...Where does the name Akuroku come from? I think people took it from their Japanese name. Roxas' name is **Roku**sasu in Jap, and Axel's is **Aku**seru. Put it together and it's **Aku+Roku**. No X's in Japanese. (Hope that clears things up.)

Review!


	2. Destiny High vs Oblivion High

Ahhh, soooo sorry it late! A two week long update, but I can vouch for it. THIS CHAPTER IS 16 PAGES! And that's _not _counting the author notes. That's more than my other fic, both chapters combine! My eyes and hands started bleeding when I typed this o.O

Someone asked me about pairings. Sorry if there was any confusion, but I'll clear them up now: It's mainly AxelRoxas and RikuSora. (Although I'm more of an akuroku fan, so you may see this story a bit bias…) Also, there's minor ZexionDemyx, because I love them. More on pairings at the author note at the bottom.

And oh yeah. There's lotsa one-side-affection-pairings-that-don't-get-anywhere, because that's what teen angst is all about people. XD

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Warning:** This is NOT a XXXXX bashing fic. I know it might seem like it at first. If you're fooled, that's cool. But I don't believe in character bashing…..well, except maybe Marluxia.

And yes, lots of OCCness, I'm poking fun at the Final Fantasy characters by exaggerating their features to the point of uncomprehension-ness, I'm not bashing them. I just love them too much.

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**Destiny High vs Oblivion High**

xXxXx

Roxas turned the doorknob to his Math classroom and was about to walk inside, when he heard someone call out his name.

"Roxas!" He turned around and was met with a girl about his age, slightly shorter than him. She was dressed neatly in the school's standards summer uniform. A white sleeveless dress shirt, a plaid tie, and a too short skirt that Roxas paid no attention to.

The girl's layered red hair bounced against her shoulders as she quickly caught up to Roxas. She stood on the other side of the hallway facing him, her binder held up with both hands against the hem of the skirt in front of her.

"How was your morning?" she asked politely.

The blonde vaguely noticed other boys staring at him enviously. He suppressed a feeling to rolled his eyes at this. Letting Kairi hang out with him always got him unwanted attention.

"Hi Kairi." He said blankly in return.

He turned away from her and opened the door, holding it open for her to go in first. The redhead gave a giggle and smiled before walking through the door. Roxas could practically feel the death glares sent his way, on the back of his head. Not that he cared of course. He and Kairi were barely friends, and he didn't remotely like her that way _at all_. So there was nothing stopping the other guys from asking her out. Those guys weren't his problem.

Someone who was his problem though, was sitting right on the other side of the doorway, in front of his way to his desk.

Seeing as how the boy hadn't seen him yet, Roxas tried to walk behind him as to not get his attention. But Riku saw him at the last minute and scooted his chair back, blocking Roxas' way.

"Hamazaki, move."

"You're perfectly capable of walking around me aren't you?" The words dripped like poison from the sophisticated silver haired teen.

'Sophisticated' however was hardly a word that Roxas would use to describe him. (Or their arguments for that matter, was it so hard to move his chair?) "Snobby' maybe, "stuck up" of course, "pain in the ass" his second name. Riku was rich and it showed in his clothes. His uniform was top notched and clean. White dress shirt, silk tie and dress pants, it was just the same regular uniform, only made of more expensive material then everyone else. Roxas had a used uniform, one that his father bought from the school to save money.

Roxas rolled his eyes as he thought about the ridiculous situation, stepping back and planning on walking around the other way to avoid the senior. But a small hand held onto his shoulders and stopped him. _Not this again._

Kairi looked a Riku. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lip-glossed lips in an angry pout.

"Riku! Why do you have to be such a jerk!"

The redhead crossed her arms and continued to glare at Riku. The only other boy who didn't share the same male student population's infatuation with the girl next to Roxas. Who at the moment was doing more harm than good.

Aquamarine eyes bore into Roxas,' a smirk gracing the features of the other teen.

"Katsurada, do you always have to have your _girlfriend_ stand up for you?"

The silver haired boy drew the word '_girlfriend_' out with exaggerated sarcasm. His gaze was unwavering but he saw Roxas twitched, revealing an emotion that could be mistaken as anger.

Kairi opened her mouth in shock then closed it, a look of disbelief and anger crossed her face. Her eyebrows completely narrowed now. She was about to open it again and say something particularly nasty about Riku's sense of fashion, when she realized that she wouldn't be helping Roxas much. She turned around expecting a retort from the blond in their defense instead.

"Fuck off Hamazaki. She's not my girlfriend."

And he brushed past his seat walking towards the other side of the classroom to reach his. He gave a quick look behind his back to check Kairi's reaction. Sure the girl was annoying as hell, but that didn't mean he wanted to hurt her feelings.

Seeing that Kairi was unfazed by his reply (she probably used to his words by now) Roxas reached his seat and sat down. It was his usual seat next to the window, where he had a clear view of the courtyard. If he was lucky he could maneuver his position around the people sitting in front of him, so that he would never have to look at the teacher.

Kairi noticed that her blond companion had already walked back to his seat, all the way across the room away from that jerk Riku. She turned around and gave the senior a raspberry, earning her a raised eyebrow and a more repulsive than annoyed look.

The redhead quickly sat down in the chair on the other side of her 'friend.' If that's what you could call the relationship she had with Roxas. The blond had been quiet and reserved ever since he had transferred into this school. Being one of very few boys that didn't immediately flock over for Kairi's attention, he ended up catching it anyway, much to others' frustration.

What motivated her first approach to Roxas wasn't the intention of forcing him to like her, but the exact opposite. Using the excuse that they were the under the age curve students, Roxas was only 17, he was suppose to be a junior, but skipped a grade. (And still being able to make it in this school was an accomplishment in itself……of course he always got picked on by the older boys.) And should look out for each other, she approached him. She was promptly brushed off at the time.

She pulled the chair back and sat down, folding the skirt underneath her. She flashed Roxas a smile, which the blonde saw and didn't return. As if ignoring her, he quietly placed his books down and looked out the window.

She probably appeared stuck up to others around her too, like a self-appointed 'girlfriend' as that Riku kid had once stated. But it never bothered her what others thought. As long as she was getting through to the blond, she would keep exaggerating her action and starting one-sided conversations.

Their teacher walked in, long silver hair, tall, and menacing green eyes and all. He wasn't the only teacher that took the dress code as a suggestion. But no one was about to tell him that he was wearing too much black leather for a nice summer day, especially with a aura like General Sephiroth's. (He didn't like his students calling him "Mr." Whether he was really a general or not, and what it had to do with replacing his title status as an educator, no one really wanted to argue.) It made the teacher quite unapproachable.

General Sephiroth began to write the homework problems on the board. In a somewhat bored manner, he told the class there would be a quiz later on that period, so they should all study now.

Kairi turned around to face Roxas, putting on a practiced cheery smile.

"Hey Roxas, let's compare homework answers." The redhead found that overly exaggerated perky gestures and stating the obvious was a good combination to get a reaction from the blond.

Roxas didn't reply, but got his notebook out nevertheless. He flipped the plastic cover open (which was plain, and not pink and covered with paopu stickers like Kairi's) and began flipping through the pages in a somewhat fast pace robotically. Settling on a page with last night answers, all 20 of them. (Which only took up 2 pages, considering the fact that he likes to show the least amount of work possible. Yes, Roxas was smart, but he was lazy too.)

He slide the notebook over so that it was within Kairi's eyesight, not bothering to glance at Kairi's pink-ink written copy. He knew all his answers were correct anyway.

"Hey! Are you guys comparing answers too?" A bouncy Wutain girl, with her short hair held back with a black and white headband appeared in front of them. Her dress shirt was tied up at the bottom revealing her midriff, a knot resting above her bellybutton. Her skirt even shorter than her best friend Kairi's.

Now, Kairi Roxas could tolerate. He could tell that her bubbly happy-go-lucky nature was probably just to get him to show some emotion. He was used to this because it happened all the time with Sora at home. And he couldn't exactly blame her for all the extra trouble she brought along with the other boys.

Yuffie on the other hand, was someone that boy could not stand. Coming from a foreign country called Wutai, she was a descendent from a great line of ninjas. She had proudly claim that the people of her precious country was in a vicious war with another, and she had to flee when there was an attack on Wutai. It was important for her to leave because was destined to become ruler of the country when this was over, and that was where she would go after she finished playing out her cover as a regular big-mouth annoying high school student.

But on one bored night. Roxas had asked Sora to google Wutai for him, and he found out that it was actually just a motel on the outskirts of New York. Currently being renovated, and forcing the residence to leave during the reconstruction. (He told Kairi this too, but she said it should have been expected from Yuffie.)

A quick hand reached out in a blur in front of Roxas and grabbed the notebook with all his answers.

"Yuffie! Give that back to Roxas." Giggled Kairi.

Another thing he didn't like about Yuffie. She was lightening fast. The only part about her far-fetched story that could be true was probably her ninja training. Her 'ninja-fast-reflexes' were true to her word. The blond might have thought this was cool, if she didn't constantly use them to steal stuff all the time.

General Sephiroth turned around and saw the school girl hovering above Roxas' desk chatting, or at least trying to, with the unsociable blond. But none the less, not working like he had instructed to. He didn't like it when people disobeyed him.

"Yuffie Kisaragi, since it looks like you're having trouble finding your seat, why don't you pass these papers out. You might find your desk along the way."

The girl turned around, giving the teacher a nervous smile and an apology.

"And when you do, I advise you sit in it." Said Sephiroth, giving her a stern look. Terrorizing students was fun.

The silver haired man point to a stack of papers located at the front of the desk, the class work. It was quite a lot for one person to pass out alone, he noticed. So he beckoned another person, and then turned around to the board to finish.

"You can help her Roxas."

The blond reluctantly rose from his seat, not at all eager to frolic around passing papers to his fellow students, some of which hated him. He was about to go, when a small hand on his shoulder pushed him down again.

Giving him a warm smile that matched her friendly gesture, Kairi got up from her own seat.

"I'll do it Roxas." And walked up to the front of the classroom.

The blond mentally reminded himself not to get mad at Kairi the next time a boy tried to maul him for hanging out with her. He would thank her later too.

Yuffie, he noticed had gone back to her table, where Tifa and Aertih sat. She had both hands clasped in front of her in a somewhat desperate begging state and was talking animatedly with them. He saw the brunette with a pink ribbon in her hair raise from her seat and join Kairi at the front of the classroom. Obviously persuading people to do her work was part of her ninja training too, or maybe Aerith was just really nice.

The short haired girl was about to site back down, when she noticed that Kairi had taken Roxas' place at the front. She quickly filled the empty seat beside the blond.

"Okay Rox, I need help with these problems."

The blond saw her run her manicured nail down a list of problems. Starting with 2 and ending with 20. She had scribbled some illegible numbers down and wrote the words "64 miles" for the first question, when it clearly asked which angle was greater if a ship heading north with a bearing of ……and another ship……. were to change directions and…….well anyways, it just wasn't the right answer.

Roxas wordlessly showed her his answers. Sometimes it wasn't such a good thing to be the smartest student in his class, well next to Riku that is. But he wouldn't admit that, ever. No guy that spent more time fixing his hair then studying could ever be smarter than him.

The blond took the pencil from between his teeth and used the tip to point to each question and answer. Since his paper was mostly blank, he had to explain how he solved each problem, which he did in intricate detail, almost like a second language. The short haired girl tediously took notes. General Sephiroth never bother to really teach them anything, just throw them class work and let them figure out the rest. He never checked their homework either, which left plenty of room for abuse.

And Roxas, even being a year younger, was always able to stay on top of things. (Kairi admired this since she always seemed to struggle with things. It was hard enough for her attending a magnet school, but harder when everyone had one more year of experience then they did.) Of course, Roxas never used this as something to get back at others. If it weren't for Kairi constantly bragging about him, the class might not have even known about his academic talents.

From the corner of his eye he could see Aerith handing out each sheet of paper with a cheerful smile, and Kairi doing likewise. Until she got to Riku, of course. In which she threw his sheet on the floor next to him and adding insult to injuries, stuck her tongue out at him.

Roxas could feel a smile creep it way across his face, but he quickly suppressed it. Kairi was probably the only friend he had at this school, but that wasn't the same way for her. Smart, cute, and perky, the redhead was increasingly popular, with very few enemies. Riku didn't count. He was Roxas' rival. And although the silver-haired teen never did do anything bad to Kairi, she had taken the rivalry between Roxas and Riku upon herself.

As Kairi got back and handed them both sheets, Yuffie resulted to hovering over their desk again. There came a problem that Roxas was not familiar with, it was common. Sephiroth liked skipping chapters.

"Hmmm, maybe we should ask General Sephiroth?" asked Yuffie, but then she and Kairi burst out laughing. It was a known fact that the teacher played on favoritism, and a couple of 'plain students' like them could never be good enough to get the teacher's attention. And as if to prove their point:

A student by the name of Rinoa raised her hand in the back. She was a brave girl, pretty outspoken, but could be stubborn at times. When Sephiroth turned around and saw the girl, her hand timidly fell shorted and her determination wavered a bit.

When he demanded what the issue was, the girl tried her best to sound unfazed, but ended up with a slight stutter. She squeaked out that she would like the teacher to explain a certain problem. The teacher doubled his death glare at the girl questioning how to do his job and the girl grew silent.

Yuffie giggled a bit, "I never like Rinoa anyway."

When the teacher turned around, Roxas could swear he heard him mutter something along the lines of "fend for yourself" under his breath. Yuffie continued on to elaborate on the reasons why she didn't like Rinoa, such as the suspicion that the girl was trying to 'steal' Squall away from her.

"Cause ya know, **_I_** was the one that started calling him 'Squall' first. Not her, everyone else just called him Leon…."

Roxas didn't bother telling her that it was actually the other way around, Since it seemed that Rinoa and Leon were good friends and sitting next to each other and everything…

But at the moment, the other part of Sephiroth's favoritism kicked into effect, as the person sitting on the other side of Leon raised his hand. Spotting Cloud with his hand raised, the teacher immediately appeared at his side, instead of taking his question at the front of the room.

"Yes Cloud?" asked Sephiroth nicely from behind him, looking over his back onto his paper. He leaned over forward a bit at the space between Cloud and Leon where they sitting together, and resting his hand against their desk creating an effective barrier. Absolutely ignoring the brunet who Cloud's best friend, he began to explain the problem his student was having trouble with.

"Um, General Sephiroth, Sir…could you uh…explain thi-" started the blond.

"_Please_, call me Sephiroth."

"Uh…..oooookay."

Yuffie turned away from the scene behind them and tried to concentrate on the problem again. It was pretty common for Cloud and Leon and to get a lot of unwanted attention. So they and their friends always tried to sit at the back of the classroom. They were the two most popular boys at the school, which just meant more competition for Yuffie. Oh well, she could always ninja-knife them in their sleep.

"I still don't get this problem…" said the Wutain girl. "Maybe we could ask Riku."

The offer was immediately looked down upon by Kairi. The redhead gave her a stern almost angry look. But Roxas tried brushed it off with a "Sure, go ahead." Letting the redhead push her way into the rivalry that had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with her was border line. The last thing he needed at his final school year was to let Kairi divide the whole school into a war between them.

But Yuffie took the hint, unfortunately.

"…..or I can just ask Squally." And with that she headed over towards the back of the classroom to the brunet sitting on the other side of the teacher ignored, looking quite annoyed and fearful. Hopefully to fend off Rinoa who was taking advantage of Sephiroth keeping Cloud busy.

Roxas leaned back in his seat, letting Kairi compare their answers. Now that everyone around him was either away or busy, it left a peaceful silence around their tables that Roxas was thankful for. The blond reach inside his open backpack and pulled out a sketch book. Since he was done with his work anyway, maybe he could get some drawing done.

Kairi saw this and smiled. She was probably the only person that knew Roxas was a great artist. She continued to look down and pretend to look over her work, but every once and a while she would sneak a glance up to Roxas. Who was sitting slouched in his chair, the sketchbook open to a blank page and propped against his lap and leaning on the desk.

He looked out the window towards his left, into the courtyard where he spotted some birds on a tree. Taking the pencil from his mouth again he set it down on paper and began to sketch an outline of the tree. Completely oblivious to the fact that there two sets of eyes were on him.

xXxXx

Somewhere on the back lawn of Destiny High School, a group of students were sitting on the grass and debating on a hot topic that had recently concerned them.

"I'm telling you, it's a _lion_." Said Axel leaning back against a tree. His hands were locked behind his head as to not mess up his hair. He was sitting down on the grass with his legs sprawled out in front of him and had to look up when Larxene spoke.

"No way. It's totally something else."

The blonde was standing up with her back against a tree opposite of Axel. She uncrossed one of her arms and began examining a finger nail.

"I think it's a bear." Said Marluxia. "It sounds like a bear."

The boy was lying down on the grass next to Larxene's feet. When the wind blew the bottom of her black cloak would flap against the side of his head. The same black coat that most of the people in their group wore, to separate themselves from the others.

Now what were they all talking about? What exactly had the group so caught that they had to skip school to discuss it? Nothing much, really. The four juniors were having a creative discussion….about moombas.

Marluxia rolled over, away from Larxene a bit. He looked down and started to examine some flowers on the ground. He liked flowers. And these flowers were an especially nice shade of pink. His favorite color in fact, that he had dyed his hair that color. So even though he was a brunet at truth, his shaggy hair was now an interesting shade of brownish-pink.

"Nah, that's not it either." Said Larxene. As she shook her head to express her disapproval, her blonde bangs that stuck out on either side of her head swayed as well.

She then looked up at the last member that was currently sitting on a branch from the tree Axel was leaning on.

"What about you Sora?"

The brunet looked down to that blonde that had addressed him. Sora actually couldn't care less about what a moomba was. But now that all eyes were on him (except for Marluxia who was now picking flowers) he had to give his answer. He raised a finger up to his chin, giving his reply a serious thought.

"Panther."

From his position in the tree he could see Axel looking straight up at him beaming.

"Yeah…..I think it's a panther….or something catlike,…kinda like Axel's guess."

The redhead sat up at this. A proud smirk on his face as he addressed Larxene. "See Larx? He _agrees_ with me!" The blonde obviously bothered by the fact that Axel had gotten support began to argue with him. The two bickering it out.

Sora just stayed on his branch, his legs dangling underneath him. Thoughts were running through his mind about the final exams next week, and more important that afternoon. Because if everything went well that afternoon, those final exams wouldn't even be an issue. The only problem was convincing Roxas to play along. When he and Axel had brainstormed plans together, it had seemed like a good idea at first. But now Sora's confidence was starting to waver.

The shouts were starting to die down as Larxene and Axel stopped arguing. Instead they sat in silence a bit, just enjoying the outside…as best as a couple of uncaring teenagers could.

Then Axel broke the silence. He raised his hand and pulled the gloves back to check his watch. It had been half an hour now he noted, narrowing his eyebrows in a disapproving look.

"Where is that kid?" he asked to no one in particular.

From across him, Larxene raised an eyebrow. Knowing exactly who Axel was referring to.

"You mean Demyx? Didn't he tell you he was with Zexion?"

Sora looked down again from his sitting spot. He could practically _see_ the tension thickening in the air around the redhead at Larxene's words. Even Marluxia had stopped throwing flower petals in the air to watch them.

The blonde watched Axel carefully. The group member visible tensed but his face remained unchanged. He gave a shake of his head to express that he was told of nothing of the sort. And if one listened closely they could hear him say something along the lines of '_...that bastard.'_

It was a known fact that Axel and Zexion hated each other. Sora had no idea why, other than the fact that the guy was really quiet and emotionless, he seemed like an ok person. But he was creepy, though. Just a bit colder than his twin brother but not enough to be hate able.

For some reason Demyx had began hanging out with this Zexion guy. Axel didn't have a problem at first, it was the blond musician's life, not his. But now it felt like Demyx had completely forgotten about the group to spend all his time with Zexion. Another reason for Axel to dislike the guy.

As if on cue, the tardy junior appeared.

"Hey you guys! Sorry I'm late…I kinda forgot what time it was, ya know?"

Larxene being the only 'girl' of the group (Marluxia didn't count) knew exactly what would happen next if she didn't do something first. Axel would get mad at Demyx and question where he was. Demyx would get mad at Axel for not letting him choose who to hang out with. And then the two would have an argument over Zexion, without ever mentioning him out loud. So she decided to act fast.

"Demyx, what's a moomba?"

The blond faced Larxene, with a look of puzzlement on his face. It was then replaced with an expression of enlightment as he seemed to have figured it out.

"Duh, it's a _fish_."

"No it's a bear!" retorted Marluxia from his place on the ground.

There began another fight over what the hell a moomba really was. Yes, our dear Larxene has saved our heros from yet another fight. Why? Because she's a girl, _and girls know these things_. She doubt even Demyx knew of Axel's crush on him. And now that he was being 'stolen away by that Zexion jerk' as Axel so nicely put it, he probably never will.

The redhead walked up to the musician and started to playfully mess up the other's hair.

"Demyx, you need a new hairstyle."

The blond looked up at his attacker questioningly. "Oh?"

Axel began to elaborate. How everyone in the group had a unique hairstyle. And Demyx was the only one with regular grown out hair, just a bit on the long side. Nevertheless, it was still a normal color, cut regularly, and wasn't spiky. It was just…..normal.

"See, I have red spiky hair." And he pointed to his own. "And Sora's got spike's too." He pointed to the brunet, then to every other member he addressed afterwards.

"Larx's got girly antennas, Marluxia's dyed his hair the color of dead flowers, and you've……got normal hair."

Demyx gave a huge smile and looked up at Axel. The redhead raised an eyebrow in questioning.

"That's what Zexion said too."

Axel remained quiet. Larxene figured he was probably trapped right now, being in agreement with someone he hated. Maybe Demyx was smarter than she thought.

The blond ran his hand threw his regular messy hair.

"He said I should get a mohawk."

Axel spoke up. "Don't, get a mullet."

Larxene rolled her eyes. Sometimes being able to see everything, and knowing when the next fight could start was too much responsibility.

"Alright guys, time to leave. School ends NOW."

The group started to disperse. Sora jumped down from his tree, Marluxia and Axel got up from their spots. As Sora was about to catch up to Axel, he needed the redhead to help with his plan to get his brother, he was stopped by Demyx.

"Hey Sora!" The blond grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back a bit. Sora was about to tell him he need to leave right away and catch up to Axel, when he saw the sad look on the musician's face.

"Is Axel still mad at me?"

Sora wasn't a girl. He may be girly at times, but he's still not one. So he wasn't equipped with feminine radars of tension. To him, everything was just fine now.

"No! Of course not!"

The blond relaxed a bit, and his smile looked less force. He had no idea why Axel hated Zexion so much. Both of them were his best friends and he really didn't want to choose between them. The rest of the group had even gotten to ignoring Zexion too, because of Axel, which made Demyx really mad.

Zexion was a great guy! He was also a senior, one year above all of them, but he thinks Axel is still older. He was also kinda 'emo.' Or at least that's what Sora called it, when his brother was all quiet and cold, and all leave me alone and let me be emo in my own misery.

But if you got to know Zexion, he wasn't so bad! If you could get past the looks that is. The guy had silver white hair, and at the tips it was dyed blue and up past his ears. His hair was also cut strangely, sticking down at random places and his bangs covered his right eye. But enough about him…

"Alright, see ya Sora!" and he let go off the brunet.

Sora ran down the sidewalk to quickly meet up with Axel. Who, at the moment was still a little grumpy. But Sora didn't notice that. Why? Say it with me people, because he's _not a girl._

"Hey Axel, do you think you can help Roxas out? Next week? If I can convince him to switch schools with me?"

The redhead looked at Sora.

"Yea sure. I'll show him around school and stuff. And then I'll let him hang out with the dropouts, it'll be fun." Although he said it with sarcasm, the smile he flashed afterwards told Sora that he would indeed help.

"Say Sora. It's a Friday, wanna go do something fun?"

"Nah, I gotta get home and talk to Roxas." And with that he left, leaving the dejected redhead behind him.

"Oh…um..okay then." Said Axel to his friend's retreating back, almost to himself.

xXxXx

Roxas slammed his locker shut after getting all his books out for the way home. It caused a loud noise that made Kairi jump a bit.

"Are you okay Roxas?" she asked.

"Of course he's fine, he has nothing to worry about." Said Yuffie on the other side of them. "It's like Mr. Vincent said 'the next two weeks are going to be preps and practice time for our exams.' Roxas has nothing to worry about 'cause he's so frikkin smart, it's like he doesn't even _need_ to come to school."

Kairi decided that following Yuffie's trail of thought might be a good way to cheer Roxas up.

"She's right you know. This whole preparation next week is gonna be like a joke to you! You could take the exams now and pass with advance. It's me and Yuffie though that have to go, because we need the extra help. And-"

Of course, Roxas wasn't listening to the two at all. And as they walked down the hallway together, something else caught his attention. Because a kid walking into you and knocking all your books down is a great way to get your attention.

"Oh, sorry Rukus."

A blond a bit taller than Roxas appeared in front of them. He wore a blue beanie on his head with gangster symbols on it, but the effect was lost because he was wearing a high school uniform. Roxas also noticed that he had his shirt parted at the bottom to reveal his bellybutton, almost like Yuffie's style…but _queerer_.

"Seifer, leave him alone!"

Kairi to his defense again. He didn't mind it that much this time, because Seifer was like an all round class bully that picked on everyone, even girls. Well…_almost_ everyone.

Seifer called his two friends up. A girl that probably couldn't cause much of a problem since her bangs were blocking her eyesight, and a tall bulky fellow that kinda towered over them. The blond crossed his arm and leaned forward to glare at Kairi.

"And what are _you_ gonna do about it, princess?"

At that moment, the bully was probably going to push her books down too. (How elementary thought Roxas, this guy must not have anything better to do.) But something else caught Seifer's attention…..or someone else rather.

"Uh, Squall wait up!"

The blond raced up to his friend, successfully nudging the group aside and pushing Cloud out of the way. Seifer grabbed the brunet's books, but instead of throwing them down like he had with Roxas, held on to them and walked away with the group.

His minions looked confuse at first at what was happening. One minute they were about to attack Roxas and his group, the next their leader was chasing after someone like a school girl. But in the end, they decided to catch up with Seifer before he left.

Kairi giggled, but Yuffie was outraged.

"The nerve of some people!…._ohhhh_ when I catch up to him, I'm gonna ninja-kick him so badly he'll…."

But the rest was lost as the girl ran down the hall, kicking passerby students in her way aside.

The redhead turned around to face Roxas, who at the moment looked thoroughly confused. It figures, it was a girl thing and he probably couldn't understand.

"So Roxas, you coming to school next week?"

The blond looked at Kairi like she had grown two heads.

"Of course! They're still taking attendance and everything and I have homework to turn in…..and….and beside, I have no where else to go anyway."

The redhead could sense some bitterness at the last part of his outburst.

"Hmm, I guess you're right." She said kindly. "I'll see you next week then. Bye Roxas!" and with that she left. Not knowing that she wouldn't see the blond at all the next week….

xXxXx

When Sora got home, Roxas was already there, in his room studying. The brunet walked in, trying to make as much noise as possible so his brother could hear him. When nothing happened, he walked over to the messy bed and sat down.

Still no attention from Roxas. Who at the moment was mumbling something about 'stupid Riku' and how he 'beated him in finishing some stupid quiz.' Wow, his brother was a geek.

Apparently he must have said it out loud because Roxas turned around to face him.

"Is there something you want Sora?" he asked quite annoyed.

Sora blanked at the words. His mind betraying him. What happened to his plan? His fool proof plan? How had he forgotten it!

"Um…..how was school?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the question. Since when had Sora developed some paternal instincts? Was it normal for little brothers to take on roles of being a parent? No, he didn't think so.

"Sora, are you feeling okay?"

The younger of the two quickly got up and walked over to the desk Roxas was working on, clearly stalling. He pointed to the papers.

"Homework for the final exams?"

"No, for the preps. We take our final exams two weeks later."

"Oh, 'cause you know. I take mine on Monday…"

Roxas clearly didn't get the hint. He may be smart, but he had absolutely no common sense. So Sora tried again, with a different approach.

"So, uh. You going to school next week? I mean, it's not like you have to, being all smart like that. You could probably skip the next two weeks and still pass all the ex-"

"Sora what do you want?" Roxas repeated his question.

He was being subjected by the same thing as Kairi and Yuffie said, but he had a feeling that his brother had a different intention.

The brunet sucked in an air of breath, then let it out. He began to say his next words slowly, making sure his brother heard every one.

"Rox, you don't _need_ to go to school next week. It's pointless. I on the other hand have to. Because that's when my final exams start, except, I'm having trouble with them…."

Roxas tried to figure out where this was going.

"You want me to help you study for them? Sure no problem. Why didn't you s-"

"No, no, no." Sora shook his head. The first to emphasis that it wasn't what he wanted, the second reason to clear his head for what he was about to say.

"I don't want you to help me '_study_' for the exams. I want you to '_take_' them for me."

It was amazing how fast Roxas could register things. Because within seconds, his eyebrows were narrowed, he had a frown on his face, and Sora found himself being shoved out of the room with a door closing on him.

"No!"

"But Roxas! I NEED YOUR HELP!"

Sora, acting like the little brother he was started pounding on the door blocking the entrance with his fist.

"Sora, I'm not going to help you '_cheat_.' It's wrong."

"BUT IF YOU DON'T I'LL FAIL!"

"Then I'll help you _s-t-u-d-y_."

"Roxas, I don't even know what that spells! That's how hopeless I am!"

The blond contemplated about opening the door for a second and giving his younger brother a good whack on the head. Idiot.

"Come on Rox." Plead Sora, who had now given up on pounding down the door. It was a nice door and had done nothing bad to him. It didn't deserve to be pounded on like that. Instead he sat down with his back against it. His hands were hurting anyway.

"If I fail, then I'll have to repeat a grade! Just like that Axel guy you hate!"

Okay, bad choice of words, considering Axel was the person who was going to help him around at school. But it seemed to have work, because Roxas had grown silent at the other side.

"Sora, go study for your exams." Was the emotionless reply.

"Can't you just take them for me?"

He knew he sounded really whiny with that statement. But at that point, he really didn't care.

"No."

Sora let out a sigh. He got up from his spot against the door and started the long walk back to his room. There was always tomorrow right? He had the whole weekend, there was no point in worrying now…right?

The blond open the door to his room a crack when he didn't hear anymore noise. He watched his brother walk back to his room in a sort of defeat stumper. _Maybe Sora was on to something…._

xXxXx

* * *

**Indigo:** Haha! I somehow managed to make Axel and Riku older than the rest, and still have them in the same grade! – pats herself on the back- But of course, this now means that Roxas is a senior, and Axel is a junior, even though Axel s older than him… 

Alright! I tried to make it up to you guys for submitting this chapter late, BY APPEASING ALL FF NON-CRACK PAIRINGS! So yea, Squall gets his own little pentagon, lol. And SephCloud, uh-oh, that can't be allowed in this fic…hmmm. Anyways, It's just a little thing for the humor, because I thought this chapter was getting boring, so it won't be elaborated on…_ever_….sorry if you liked it.

So what _IS_ a moomba? Someone figured that if I can explain where 'akuroku' came from, then I can explain the moomba thing. Well, sure I guess. I'm kinda flattered you thought I was good at explaining things. Anways, a moomba is a creature in Final Fantasy VIII. It basically looks like a proportionally correct Sonic the Hedgehog. Except it's red, kinda like Axel's hair. Thus the ongoing joke about Axel and moombas, both red and spikey and all, lol.

And now, NEXT CHAPTER! Will be the switch-up! I swear this time. I'll just make Roxas a pansy and give in so we can get on with it. And if you thought this chapter was long, the rest will probably be LONGER,I need to write both Sora's and Roxas' part foreach chapter. But I will definitely write it soon. And then I'll post it, and then you'll read it and be happy and review. So get ready!

are you ready?

you're not ready…

REVIEW!


	3. The Switch Up

Dear god this chapter is long. And sorry for the even longer wait! It seems like I've been updating slower and slower. It's cause I have to go to summer classes.But thank you all for your reviews. 20 reviews per chapter is amzaing. You guys are great. -hearts-

But something that _isn't _great is the way that fanficnet keeps KILLING all my stuff.

They've truncated all my punctuations (if you haven't noticed, I like my exclamations in threes XD). And they ate my quotations marks too. There are suppose to be " " in the summary, but fanficnet ATE THEM! So now I have to use ' ' which aren't as cool are " " and probably causes even more confusion in my summary...

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...except this Riku plushie Author Sama277 gave me. I like getting stuff XD.**

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**The Switch-Up** **(a.k.a You vs Me)**

xXxXx

The phone was ringing.

Roxas took the pencil he had been biting on out of his mouth and set it on the paper on his desk, completely ignoring the ringing. But when the lead tip touched the sheet, the blond had completely forgotten what he was about to write. And no one had picked up the phone either.

_Sora will get it._ The older of the two put his pencil back in his mouth, chewing on the eraser thoughtfully. He leaned back in his chair and averted his eyes from the homework on his desk. After a while he realized his assumption had been wrong.

Placing both his hands on the wooden desk before him, he pushed out and used the swivel chair to wheel over to his bedroom door, annoyed.

"Sora, get the phone already!"

When no reply was heard Roxas angrily stood up. He pulled the door wider and stuck his head out, yelling into the halls.

"SORA GET TH-"

_Thump_.

Roxas stopped mid-shout as he heard a noise that sounded like his brother falling off his bed. Sounds of a doorknob twisting and footsteps were heard from Sora's room. Roxas closed his door and headed back to his desk.

He placed an elbow on the desk, head resting on his palm. He was about to pull his pencil out again and finish his homework when he nearly choked on it. Another loud thump was heard as Sora walked past his brother's room. When Roxas turned around he saw the brunet dragging his feet against the floor, occasionally kicking the ground beneath him as he reluctantly made his way to the phone. The younger of the two started to moodily stomp down the stairs, obviously trying to make as big of a ruckus as possible. _Brothers…_

Of course, Roxas was perfectly capable of picking up the phone too. And it wasn't that he didn't like phones or didn't like talking on them. (Not that he really did much. Sadly, no one at school ever called him and he refused to give Kairi his number.) He just didn't like talking to the person on the other line. And it was always the same person that called, because only one person had their number. And that was their father.

After the consistent ringing has stopped, Roxas was able to concentrate on his homework again. But it only took a few minutes longer for another distraction to call him away from his work.

"Hey Rox..."

It was Sora. The brunet was leaning against the doorframe of his room, head cast down and arms hugging himself. Roxas knew his brother had been faking his moping before to get him to agree to the switch up, but this time he looked genuinely sad.

Sora didn't look up as he spoke and he kept his voice low, but Roxas was sure that if he looked up his features would have been laced with sadness.

"That was dad. He said he was…uh…going to be late."

At that, Roxas' attention was captured. Their father had been out on a trip to Hollow Bastion for a business meeting. He had been gone all weekend and was suppose to come home tomorrow. Roxas voiced the question that he knew was probably bothering Sora.

"How late?"

"All week."

Sora looked up, a worried look in his eyes that showed in his voice.

"Do you think he go-"

"No. I'm sure everything's fine."

The brunet was cut off by his brother. He couldn't help but feel a bit defeated. First his plan to switch places with his twin had been shot down. Now his other plans to spend time with his dad had been delayed. From his place at the door, he could see Roxas turn around and go back to his work.

"We can manage another week, without him." His brother said calmly.

Even if he knew Roxas didn't like their father very much, or barely spoke to him on the rare occasions he was home, he still couldn't believe the news passed Roxas without a hint of emotion. Why couldn't he understand anything? They were a family!

Roxas flinched as the door to his room was slammed shut, and for the second time that day his beloved chewed-up no.2 pencil almost caused his death. Sora _had _looked quite upset to begin with, did he make it worst just now?

The blond leaned back in his chair again, folding his arms behind his head. Cerulean eyes cast a glance at the door, then onto something on his bed, and back to the door again. Roxas gave a sigh. He hadn't been a very good brother, had he? A part of his mind was bothering him and making him feel uncomfortable. _It wasn't like he really……-_nevermind

_I'm gonna regret this. Dammit , I am so going to regret this!_ And with a million thoughts running through his head, Roxas stood up and grabbed his stuff off the bed and headed for the door.

xXxXx

_Roxas was an idiot. A complete idiot. He was the biggest idiot of them all. Roxas wa-_

"Sora, can I come in?"

Roxas was at the door! Of course Sora didn't say anything in reply because he was still suppose to be mad at his brother for being an inconsiderate jerk. And being the type of person Roxas was, he didn't need the reply anyway and came into the room.

The younger of the two looked up, hopefully excepting an apology. Instead he got a bunch of clothes thrown at him. After pulling the offending fabric off his face, and upon closer examination, Sora noticed that it was Roxas' school uniform.

Sora excitedly looked back up at Roxas, but the blond was already heading out the door. Without a single apologetic look or wave, he left with just a statement behind him. "Have fun tomorrow."

The brunet immediately got off the floor he was sitting on and chased after his brother. He wasn't quite sure what he would do once he caught up with Roxas. He'd probably thank him, smile at him, and try to hug him (if Roxas let him). But first he needed details. He had to tell Roxas where to go, which friends to talk to, all his classes, oh there was so much to do! But it would probably be worth it.

_This is where the fun starts._

xXxXx

The students of Oblivion High were quite busy that Monday. Underclassmen rushing to their classes and trying to stay out of the way of the Upperclassmen, who were desperately cramming for their exams. And students moving to and fro and avoid teachers who had to make and grade said terrible exam. Thus the life of a magnet school.

And if any of those above-average kids had stopped for a moment in their busy life, they might have noticed a somewhat familiar looking student at the side of the hallway…looking completely lost.

Sora had his back to the hallwaywith his forehead and right fist pressed against a random locker. What the hell was Roxas thinking? Giving him nothing but a sheet of paper with random information and classroom numbers, but not including a map! He knew how easily Sora could get lost! How was he supposed to survive? He didn't even know where his first class was!

"Hey Roxas!"

The brunet didn't turn around. His brain hadn't fully comprehended that even though it was his brother's name, he was expected to respond to it, now that they've switched. So Sora kept his back turned to the speaker, even when she called out his brother's name again. _Wait, a girl's voice? Since when did Roxas know girls?_

Sora turned around as whoever it was walked up to him. She was a girl a little shorter than him. Perfect hair, perfect uniform, perfect make-up, she was one of those girls that never talked to Sora at his old school. What did she want with Roxas?

"Roxas...are you alright?" The girl's red hair fell to the side as she tilted her head a bit, looking at Sora puzzeledly.

"Wait a minute…." Her eyes widen as realization hit her. "…you're not…"

Sora started to panic as whoever the girl was began to recognize him. Dammit, no one was suppose to recognize him this fast! If she found out now…everything would be over. And it would be all his fault too, after everything he did to make it work.

"Hi I'm Roxas! What's your name!" practically screamed Sora. He mentally slapped himself. Any doubt that she had about his identity was probably vaporized at that. His brother would have never acted like that! Sora gave a nervous smile and braced himself for the accusation.

"Okay, first off." She started."You can't be Roxas because he's a shy quiet guy that doesn't like talking to people." She said all this with a smile, which seemed to calm Sora's nerves down a bit. Maybe she was a friend?

"Second." The girl held up a two manicured fingers complete with pink polish, to emphasis her point. "If you _are_ Roxas, then you should already know how I am."

"Third." A third finger joined the other two, and Sora saw her smile grow a bit friendlier. "If you haven't noticed, Roxas is _blond_."

The redhead put her hand down and crossed both her arms, giving him a defiant look. She narrowed her eyes a bit and her voice became business like, but her friendly aura stayed.

"Now, are you going to tell me who you _really_ are?"

Defeated, Sora decided to tell her. It couldn't hurt, she seemed friendly enough, plus she was pretty. The brunet looked both ways down the hallway, just to make sure that no one was paying attention to him. Lucky for them, every student was absorbed in their own stress and self-misery of the preparation and upcoming exams. As if high school was suppose to be any harder. No one had time to tell secrets and spread rumors around here.

"I'm Sora…Sora Katsurada."

The girl's eyes widen even more and her grin stretched from ear to ear.

"Katsurada?" In all truth, it looked like her birthday had come early and her parents had bought her that pony she wanted since she was eight.

"Ohmigosh! That means you're related to Roxas! Oh wait, or you two could just have the same last name….but you two look sooo alike! It can't be a coincidence! I bet you two are related! I know, you guys are _brothers_! Or maybe even twins! You guys _are_ related right?"

A normal person would have had trouble following the girl's train of thought. But since Sora usually thought like that anyway, he understood her just fine.

"Yeah, Roxas is my twin. He's the olde-"

"AHA! I knew it! I knew you two were related! Oh you guys look so much alike!"

The brunet needed to calm the girl down. If she was any louder, the people in the hallway would most likely notice. And besides, he had more important matter to deal with.

"Um yea that's great, but uh keep it down. Don't want anyone finding out you know?Oh, hey! Can you help me? I'm kinda uh…looking for someone…"

The redhead stopped her 'I knew it all along' speech and focused her attention back on Sora. "Who are ya looking for?"

"I'm suppose to find this person named Kairi."

xXxXx

On the other end of the academic scale at Destiny High, things would go a bit smoother for the older brother, but not for long.

"So Axel, what's this kid suppose to look like?" asked Larxene, walking beside him.

The redhead had figured it was okay to tell her. She was good enough friends with Sora he supposed, and she had agreed to help out. Besides, he had a feeling she would find out anyway, Larx was like that.

"Just look for someone that could pass as Sora."

They were standing at the front of the school, where Sora had told them he'd ask his brother to wait. The two looked around and started to scan the crowd forany signs of a boy with spiky hair that might look lost.

"There." Axel turned around and saw Larxene pointing to a place near the entrance doorway. He shifted his gaze and stared for awhile until he saw…..someone that looked exactly like Sora, except with blond hair.

"Alright then." And he headed off.

Of course it might have been a lot easier to find him if the teen wasn't just leaning against the wall and attracting no attention whatsoever, like his brother would have. The kid practically blended in! Axel was excepting him to at least make _some_ effort of finding his guide, but noooooo. From the look of things, Mr. Casual was probably just the uncaring, cold, looks-after-himself kid Axel had always pictured after hearing Sora described him.

Axel neared his target and approached him from the side. However, the blond boy who was probably fed up with waiting, had started to walk away. So Axel annoyedly reached a hand out and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around. The next thing that happened took Axel completely by surprise, and entirely…unguarded.

From any other student's point of view that happened to be standing on school ground,would have said that _nothing_ happened. Or at least _nothing special_ happened. Some redhead had just walked up and gotten another kid to turn around and that was that. They juststood there looking at each other for a while afterwards, that's all.

Of course Axel wouldn't have said it was _nothing_. He would have liked to think that it was _something_. Because _something_ had caused him to stand there like an idiot staring at the kid, whose shoulder he still hadn't let go of yet. And _something_ had caused him to notice every little detail about the kid. Like how he held himself up with a bit more poise and defiance in his stature. And how he held onto Axel's gaze, even as short as it lasted, without flinching.

And later that afternoon when someone would comment that Roxas looked a lot like Sora, Axel would have half a mind to correct them and say "What are you talking about? Roxas' eyes are lighter than Sora's! And they're not as friendly either, but they're still kinda pretty. And Roxas' is paler than Sora, he probably doesn't get out much. And he's taller too, and doesn't walk around all clumsy like Sora. He's got this kinda sophisticated walk that makes people stay out of his way. Oh, and when he talks…"

But of course all this happened in less than a second. Because in the next, Roxas had narrowed his eyes at the stranger, his lips in a half frown. His right hand came up to brush Axel's roughly off his shoulder. The tone he used surprised more than intimidated Axel.

"Can I help you?"

The redhead didn't miss a beat. Sure the meeting so far had been a bit…unnerving, but Axel wasn't about to let some kid upstage him. Letting his cocky nature fall into place, he crossed his arms and return Roxas' glare with a mockingly pleasant one.

"Actually, I'm supposed to help you."

One of the blond's eyebrows rose. Was this the guy Sora had told him about? His brother had said to wait at the front of the school, leaving him with no classroom numbers, no instructions, just to wait. Of course Roxas had thought that this was crazy, but his brother had insured him that he had contacted a friend to help him.

"Who are you?" he questioned.

"I'm Axel. Got it memorized?"

Roxas stared at the outstretched hand before him. The name hadn't clicked in his memory quite yet, and he didn't feel like taking the hand before him. Instead he said:

"No, actually I don't have it memorized yet. Because you just told me your name now an-"

"Okay nevermind kid."

_Way to ruin his catch phrase._ Most people got it. From what Sora told him, this Roxas guy was suppose to be smart, but instead he took it literally. Which he admit was actually kinda cute…..he even looked kinda cute at the first impression too, but that didn't cover for the attitude. This kid really was just as much of a brat as he had visualized. Probably the unsocial, and doesn't-play-well-with-others type too.

The conversation wasn't going so well and he noticed that he had lost Larxene in the crowd somewhere. This provided a great distraction.

"Um, I'm going to get a friend of mine. Then I'll come back and help you around the school." Axel headed off, leaving Roxas there.

After a few steps he turned around with a smirk on his face, throwing the words behind him. "Just think of me as your own personal tour guide...You can pay me back later."

Roxas never had many friends before and he rarely socialized with the few he had. So when Axel's reply came back, he wasn't quite sure if it was a joke or not. He remembered Sora telling him some, but they were all knock-knock jokes, and they were dumb.

The blond was about to ponder on this some more when something suddenly hit him. The name. Axel. The guy his brother was always talking about, and Roxas hated. And yet here he was playing tour guide for him, and Sora _knew_ he hated him! He couldn't help but think that his brother had set him up…but still. It wasn't like he could just leave. Sora hadn't left him with any school information, and that idiot Axel was about to come back any second…

When Axel reached Larxene, he found her standing in the middle of the walk way, not really talking to anyone but looking busy with checking her nails.

"I found him."

"I know."

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"I was gonna go say hi. But I figured it'd be more entertaining if I waited here and watched the show. I could tell that you two _really_ hit it off…"

Axel groaned. "That kid is a moron. You'd think he'd be a bit more thankful when help comes his way, or that maybe he'd be more like his brother and get some manners. But no, he's just some anti-social kid that we have to escort around the school for two weeks. I really wish I'd never agreed helping out that ungrateful brat-"

"And yet, you're planning on doing it anyway."

Larxene didn't look up as she spoke, still scanning her razor sharp nails, but Axel was sure she was wearing a smudged look. Axel gritted his teeth, maybe she had seen him freeze up? Just stop and stare at Roxas like there was no tomorrow? That was until he got to know him. He might be a pretty-boy and Sora's brother, but he was still a jerk.

"So, what's his name?"

"Oh it's…" The redhead drew a blank. The kid hadn't really introduced himself, and with everything going on (although the students around would have said that _nothing_ was going on…) he really hadn't had time to properly ask him.

"You've got to be kidding me." An amused smile was on the blond girl's face as she looked up andshook her head. She walked up next to Axel but kept her gaze on Roxas.

"Come on, you need to introduce me to whatever-the-hell-his-name-is."

xXxXx

After asking the girl before him if she could help him find someone, Sora waited patiently. He watched as she locked her hands behind her back and leaned forward, a cute pose that she seemed to be doing a lot. She gave another huge smile and proudly replied "You're looking at her."

Sora gaped. "Really? That's great! That saves me the trouble of looking and everything."

"Why were you looking for me?" asked Kairi.

"Oh see, my brother told me to look for you. He said that if I needed any help I should ask you and….."

Of course that was all that Kairi heard. As if finding out that Roxas had a brother that attended this school was enough excitement, Roxas had now just recommended coming to her for help. To his own brother! That means that her work must be paying off and she really _was _helping Roxas!

"I'd be honored to help you!" exclaimed Kairi proudly. Maybe a bit too loud, because some students were now giving the two curious looks, luckily none of them lasted longer for a few seconds as they got absorbed into their work again.

"So you must be new, right Sora?"

"Um….kind of."

"Do you know where to go?"

"I was kinda hoping you could help me with that."

"Do you have a schedule I could look at?"

"Oh!" Sora pulled the sheet of paper Roxas had quickly scribbled on that morning and given to him, out of his pocket. He unfolded it and handed it to Kairi to read.

"Those are my classes….I think."

Kairi looked at the paper. The words seemed to be written in Roxas' handwriting, stating precise instructions on random things. The first line was the address of the school and how to get there. The second line were directions on how to handle student interaction. It said something like:

_Don't talk to people, unless they speak to you first. _

_Don't **ever **talk to Riku._

_Don't hangout with people, unless you absolutely have to._

_Don't **ever **hang out with Riku._

Kairi nodded approvingly. Well, at least on the Riku parts she did. Her eyes lowered and scanned the other half of the paper. Below that Roxas had written class subjects, room numbers, and his locker combination for Sora. And underneath that was a personal note probably written for his brother only.

_If you need anymore help, just go find Kairi. She'll give you help whether you want it or not. She's like that._

Sora saw this and quickly tried to pull the paper out of Kairi's grasp and explain himself. "Oh! Uh, I'm sure Roxas didn't mean anything by that! I'm sure he was just…"

"Omigosh!" Kairi moved the paper away from Sora's reach and twirled around happily with it.

"He put it in writing! He actually recommended my help _in writing_! That means I'm doing a good job of helping him! I'm actually doing something right! And all this time he was acting like it didn't affect him. Ha ha, I can see right through that now!"

The brunet wasn't quiet sure what to make of the bouncy girl talking to no one in particular. He waited until she stopped celebrating and calmed down. Of course he wasn't exactly ready when she popped her question up, although he should have.

"So where's Roxas? Why isn't he helping you instead? Not that I _mind_ helping people of course. I love helping people!"

"Um…it's actually a long story."

And thus came the tale of how Sora had bravely outwitted his brother into switching to his school under his identity and take the dreaded Final Exams for him. Of course he might have slightly exaggerated a few details because by the time he was finished with his heroic tale (which wasn't until _after_ Kairi had shown him his first class which they had together, and they had seated, and class had started) Kairi was looking at him with unsuppressed admiration.

"That is so cool!" exclaimed Kairi. The two were now in a science class. Oblivion High was very proud of their science program and had a ridiculously long name for the experimental course, complete with ridiculously long assignments. One of which Sora had been partnered up to do with Kairi.

"What's so cool?" asked another voice behind them.

Sora turned around and was faced with another girl. Her hair was short and black, and unlike Kairi she wore her uniform in a way that was much more revealing. Girls like her at Sora's school would never even _look_ at him, and yet here she was looking eager to join in with the conversation.

Yuffie's eyes suddenly widen as she saw Sora. "Oh my god. I love your hair!"

She reached out and ruffled Sora's spikes. The brunet jumped a bit at the sudden contact. He never really talked to girls much at his old school. Olette didn't like him that way and Larxene was kinda creepy. _Did Roxas always get this much attention from the girls?_

"Ha ha. I knew you bleached your hair Roxas! You were so smart, you couldn't have been a blond!" she giggled.

"Yuffie!" scolded Kairi. She leaned in closer and whispered, but Sora heard it as well.

"That's not Roxas. He's Sora, Roxas' twin brother. They switched places and now we have to help him out!" she said excitedly.

Yuffie squealed. Delighted at the new information and what mischief it might bring. Sora flashed Kairi a nervous look that read _are you sure it's okay to tell her?_

The redhead returned the look with one of reassurance. "Don't worry, Yuffie won't tell anyone. We're both good friends of Roxas."

Sora was almost tempted to ask if Roxas had any good friends that weren't girls. But honestly! Here were two really nice and pretty girls, who acted like they were the most inseparable best friends in the world to Roxas. And yet his brother still didn't have a girlfriend? What was up with that? And how had he gotten girls like them to hang out with him anyway!

As Sora was about to ask one of them if his brother had ever shown any interest in girls, another student passed by.

"Oh hello Tifa!" greeted Kairi cheerfully.

Sora turned around and then immediately wished he hadn't. Standing before him was a girl with the largest chest he had even seen...even bigger than the ones Axel had once tried to show him in magazines. He turned around to hide his blush, luckily Tifa hadn't noticed. Instead the girl handed him a worksheet the teacher had asked her to pass out.

"Here you go Roxas. And by the way, nice hair." And with another smile she left, and Sora's face returned to its normal color. Why hadn't Roxas mentioned anything about that! Surely his brother could have told him a girl like her existed!

He was really starting to get suspicious. It seemed like Roxas was surrounded by girls everyday. How could he just ignore them?

Kairi was about to ask if Sora was okay when she glanced at the worksheet she got. "Hey Sora, I hope you're as smart as your brother, because these problems look hard."

The brunet pulled the sheet on his desk closer and got a look. Written on it were a billion of chemicals and their properties. Each problem stating something about their chemical use and structure, like hell he knew what they were! And what was with all these tables and models, and…this wasn't just a worksheet, it was a packet! It all might as well have been written in Greek for all Sora cared.

"Um….I don't know how to read this…" he admitted sheepishly, his finger pointing to a complicated model that looked like what would happen if his breakfast had exploded and then rearranged themselves into a pretty orbit.

"Silly! That's 'cause you're looking at it upside down!" cried Yuffie, and she reached out, turning the packet unto its intended position.

Sora took another look……"Uh...That didn't help."

Kairi's pursed her lip, her eyes taking on a concern look. "Well, Roxas was usually the one that helped with these things…" she trailed off, as to not hurt Sora's feelings.

"I'll ask Aerith!" offered Yuffie.

And before he knew it, another girl was by their table. A ribbon in her hair and a friendly smile on her face, the perfect take-home-to-your-parent type of girl. By now all of his suspicions were cleared.

_...I think...my brother's...gay..._

Kairi noticed Sora hitting his head on the desk. "Sora? Are you alright?"

But the brunet didn't even notice her. Why hadn't his brother said something? But of course there was always the chance that his brother wasn't…

"Sora, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Concern eyes that matched her voice were focused on him.

_No he's definitely gay... _

If he's surround by this many girls and doesn't have a girlfriend yet…seriously, to him it seemed like Kairi was practically obsessed with him. She hasn't left Sora alone or shut up yet, but she's kinda cute so maybe that's okay…but still…

Sora didn't take his head off the desk, but mumbled a reply that he was alright to Kairi. He sighed heavily, wondering slightly what his brother had found out about _him_ at Destiny High.

xXxXx

Roxas couldn't help but stare at the odd group in front of him, with only one thought on his mind.

_I can't believe my brother's in a gang……_

At first Roxas had thought that Axel was the weirdest person he ever met. His hair was even spikeir than Sora's plus, it was brilliant bright red. Which was a bad thing because now he could never lose sight of him in the halls-thus eliminating that excuse. It also didn't helped that this Axel guy completely towered over him. Their height difference probably had something to do with the guy repeating a grade.

"So let me get this straight, you're a frikkin _senior_?" asked Larxene.

Both of them along with Axel, were sitting at the back of the English classroom. The redhead had introduced the two of them moments earlier, but Roxas really wish he hadn't. The girl looked-and talked-like a tomboy, and the way she held herself gave him the impression that she wasn't someone to mess with. She had blonde hair with two strands sticking out towards the side, an interesting choice of bangs, but Roxas wasn't about to tell her that. In all truth, he was probably more afraid of her than he was of Axel.

"Uh, yeah. I skipped a grade a few years ago. But that was before I got to Oblivion Hig-"

"Whoa!" exclaimed Larxene, obviously impressed. She turned around to Axel and replied in a mocking tone.

"See that Ax? Roxas is younger than you, and yet he's in a grade _higher_ than you. Doesn't that make you wish you hadn't lit the school on fi-"

Now it was the redhead's turn to interrupt someone. Axel quickly nudged Larxene in the side roughly, something you normally wouldn't do to a girl, but Roxas guess it was different with Larxene. He was almost glad for the distraction actually. While he was talking to the blonde, he had noticed Axel staring at him weirdly. He guess it was probably because he looked so much like his brother Sora, they got a lot of those looks being twins. But still, it kinda creeped him out when it was Axel doing it.

"Yeah, whatever." Started Axel, trying to think of an excuse to change the subject. The last thing he needed Roxas to know right now was sbout his little 'fire escapade.' When a distraction in the form of another blue eyed blond appeared.

"Hey Demyx!" Axel stood up from his seat next to Roxas and waved the blond over. The teen musician spotted them and quickly walked over, giving Axel a greeting as well.

"Whoa, you really did cut your hair." Noticed the redhead. Although it would have been very hard not to, considering most of it along the sides was now missing. The rest of it looked like it was gelled to stand up at the top, and instead of all that hair hanging over his face there were only a few strands left as bangs.

"Yeah, I did! It looks cool doesn't it?" Demyx turned his gaze to Roxas.

"Hey! I like your hair too Sora! When did you bleach it? Blond suits you better anyway you dumb blond and…wait a minute…"

Eager to introduce their addition, Axel pointed to the boy on his right and spoke to Demyx.

"Dem, this is-"

"ROXAS!" exclaimed Demyx.

The older twin, who had been watching the whole exchange silently, had recognized the other teen a long time ago. Although he made no word of it, Roxas wasn't exactly fond of their past experiences together.

"You know him?" asked Axel bewildered, and maybe a bit disappointed at having the fun taken away.

"Of course I do!" beamed the blond. "Roxas and I used to go to the same school together!"

Larxene decided it was time to include herself in the conversation "What? No way! You're an _idiot _Demyx, how could you ever make it to Roxas' school?"

"Well actually…" spoke up Roxas. It seemed like all eyes were on him as he started his explanation.

"Although Oblivion High is a magnet school for the academically advance, it also has a pretty famous fine art program…

("It's true." commented Demyx. "Roxas here is a genius and an artist!")

..And since Demyx has some pretty good musical abilities I think it might have helped with his admission process."

Actually, Roxas was pretty sure that was the _only_ reason Demyx was able to attend. The boy was in fact, dumber than his younger brother-and that was saying something according to Roxas. He had met him accidentally when Kairi had introduced the two, saying something about how Roxas just _had _to meet the newest underclassmen that could play the piano so beautifully.

"Oh Roxas! You remember me!" cried Demyx and latched himself onto the shorter blond's arm. Of course this totally freaked Roxas out and brought back unwanted memories.

Roxas was half tempted to shove the teen off him, or maybe violently push him out the window they were nearby. It wasn't like he hated Demyx….okay maybe he did. But he had good reason, the overly affectionate teen was worst than Kairi and would never leave him alone. Even though they had no classes together! And when he had left Oblivion High of his own accord a few years ago (claiming the competitive atmosphere and learning environment just wasn't his style), it felt like half of Roxas' problems were gone.

When the blond had let go, much to Roxas' relief, he started to question him.

"So why are ya here Roxas? Don't tell me Oblivion was too much for you! You're the smartest kid I know!"

That was Axel's cue to explain, and explain he did. He also tried to shove Larxene over a seat to leave Demyx a space next to him, but the blond obliviously took one on the other side of Roxas. It was kinda weird too, how both of them knew each other like that…

"WHAT! YOU MEAN HE'S SORA'S BROTHER?" yelled Demyx standing up in shock.

Axel had to pull him down in order to not draw attention.

"Demyx, you really **are** a fucking idiot." stated Larxene as she rolled her eyes.

The boy had met both of the twins separately, but with such a striking resemblance you'd think he'd be able to make some connections….

"But he- I mean Rox wa- but why didn't Sora tell me?" whined Demyx.

This came as no surprise to Roxas. Only Demyx could be clueless enough to not recognize it before. What was a surprise however, was that Demyx actually hung out with these people. The first thing he noticed about Axel and Larxene was that they were wearing matching black coats. Another reason for Roxas to think his brother was in a gang. But when Demyx showed up wearing one too, Roxas decided to change his idea of a gang to something more like-a bunch of kids that didn't fit in.

"Hey you guys, did you know that the flower department store at the corn-Whoa. What the hell is wrong with Sora's hair?" asked another boy who was standing before them.

After a look at him, Roxas' assumption was confirmed. The teen who had also donned the coat, had shaggy pink hair and smelled like flowers.

"Heehee that isn't Sora, Marluxia!" exclaimed Demyx pointing at him. He then proceeded to tell Marluxia about the whole switch-up, acting like he had known it all along.

Roxas turned towards Axel, who was next to him. "Is it okay to let this many people know?"

The redhead looked at him. Like, actually _looked _at him. No more of those weird stares or glances that he took when he thought Roxas wasn't paying attention. Which he was. Freak.

"Huh? Oh, uh yeah. Don't worry, Marluxia's one of us." He assured the blond.

Roxas was a bit worried about whether or not they considered _him_ one of them too. Which was exactly what he didn't want. He was almost about to ask Axel this, but decided on better judgment not to. Instead he turned the other way to watch Demyx explain everything like it was his idea.

But he noticed that Axel hadn't stop looking at him yet. A bit annoyed, he faced the redhead again. He hadn't meant for his voice to sound as bitter as it came out.

"Yeah, I know. I look like Sora. Now can you stop staring?"

Both of Axel's eyebrow rose shock at the harsh, but entirely true accusation.

However, he wasn't staring because Roxas looked like his brother. Actually from the moment he saw him, he had decided that Roxas didn't look a thing like his brother. And by now, he was sure as hell that Roxas didn't act like his brother either. He was everything his brother had described him as, and not at the same time. It was weird and made Axel confused, so he figure that if he looked at Roxas long enough, the answer would come. Even though he wasn't quite sure what the question was in the first place. And besides, he got caught.

Axel quickly looked the other way and mumbled something that sounded like "_I wasn't staring…"_

As the redhead began to ignore him now and start talking to Demyx again, Roxas couldn't help but feel a little left out. He briefly wondered how Sora had so many strange friends, and why he hadn't told him about them before. And while he was at it, he also started to wonder how Sora was doing at _his_ school.

xXxXx

_Perfect._

He thought angrily. It had been a while ago since Sora had lost sight of Kairi. They were just walking down the hall together and suddenly a mob of students rushed by. One minute the redhead was next to him, the next he was standing by himself in a deserted hallway.

_This was just perfect._

It had only taken him a few hours to get himself lost. The brunet figured that he should probably head back to where they had come from, and hope that he'd run into Kairi. He was trying to remember what his next room number was and he let his gaze drift to the floor. He walked quickly and tried not to look at anyone or cause any attention because a lost senior in his own school was pretty suspicious. That was why he hadn't noticed the other student until he ran into him.

Theywere bothknocked backwards onto the ground, although not hurt. Sora quickly blurted out an apology.

"Oh I'm so sorry!"

Sora was the first to stand up as he gathered his notebook up faster. So he quickly stuck a hand out, offering the person he ran into some help.

The boy on the ground looked older than he was. As he sat up, his silver hair fell against his face and Sora was unable to get a good look at him. "No it's alright, I'm fine." He stated quickly.

He sounded a bit annoyed. As he finished collecting his books on the floor, he looked up and saw Sora. His aquamarine eyes, which had once shown annoyance, had now turnedquestioningly and his lips turned into an unfriendly frown.

Riku was about to say something particularly nasty about Roxas watching where he was going when something else caught his attention. The boy's hand. He was holding it out in front of him like he wanted to help him up. _What the hell?_ Not exactly something that Roxas would do. He wasn't the type of person that would help someone (that was his stupid side-kick's job) especially for some that he hated.

The silver haired teen on the ground raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy in front of him questioningly. "…uh…Katsurada?"

Realization hit Sora as he realized what was going on. The boy he ran into probably wasn't one of Roxas' friends. Heck he might even be one of his enemies! And here he was offering him help in the middle of a deserted hallway!

Sora quickly took his hand back and tried to walk away, but the damage was done.

His aquamarine eyes narrowed and looked a bit angry. "Wait a minute….."

_Maybe if I don't respond to that name and run away now…_thought Sora. And it probably would have worked too, if he hadn't accidentally dropped his notebook as he backed up. Because on it was written ROXAS in those big fancy letters his brother liked to write in. Sora cringed as he saw it.

Riku must have seen it too because in a flash, the boy had gotten up from the floor and was standing in front of him. Before Sora had any time to think of an excuse or running away, he founded himself shoved roughly against a locker.

His back hit the cool metal behind him, and he had a feeling his head had hit it too because he could feel something pounding. Or maybe it was his heart. It was probably beating furiously now and it was a wonder that neither of them could hear it in this deserted hallway.

Oh, right. Deserted. Another reason for Sora to be scared out of his mind. Who knows what kind of trouble could be caused if this guy had guessed correctly, and exposed his identity to the administrators. Roxas could be kicked out! And he had worked so hard to get in….and it would be all of Sora's fault.

Frighten blue eyes looked up at ones that reflected hostility. The older boy's hands were holding Sora's shoulders at arm's length. _'There's still a chance, there's still a chance….'_was what was running through Sora's head. But at the boy's next statement he knew that there weren't any left from the beginning.

"I'll ask you this once." He said slowly, keeping his firm hold of Sora and his piercing gaze on him.

"Who are you….and what happened to Roxas?"

xXxXx

* * *

**Indigo:** Ohhhh...CLIFFY! And what the hell? 20 PAGES? When did this story get so long? And for some reason I feel like nothing's happened yet...damn. But no worries! Because in the next chapter, Axel forces Roxas to skip school against his will and Sora gets rescued by Riku. Yay! 

Heh heh. Axel being the tour guide...it's de ja vu from my other fic. But don't worry, stuff that happens in that fic won't happen in Switch it Up...I hope.

If you could guess from reading this fic that I go to a magnet school too, then I aplaud you. Except I feel more like Sora being lost in Roxas' school, because I don't fit in and I'm not really as smart as everyone else. (Thus the summer classes that go ridiculously fast and take up so much of my time.) Plus our art department sucks unlike this one.

And ya, I know I said there'd be more Akuroku-ness. Well it seems like the Akuroku vs. RikuxSora ratio will be quite even while they are at school...And now I will leave you all to think of that cryptic sentence as you submit your reviews, becuase you all _will _review...

...Right?


	4. My Friends vs Your Friends

Is it just me, or do you guys reviewer faster when there's a cliffy? Because it seems so, and I got a hell of a lot more reviews on the last chapter too. (Thank you guys so much!) Yes, you all are wonderful, and I love getting all your feedback. Especially the one from Jessie Luna. If anyone wants a full analysis of my story, go read her review! No seriously, read it.

And once again, I come bearing another complaint. After submitting the previous chapter I noticed quite a few mistakes in it. It was because fanficnet ATE MY FRIKKIN SPACES! (Just like it ate thoseexclamation marks-they're there, honest. You just can't seem them anymore). So yea, anyways. I apologize for anyone that had to read that chapter with all those words meshed together like that. But don't worry, if you read it now it should be fine. I fixed it. )

**Disclaimer: I own nothing….well no not really. I got a Wolfwood plushie from Author sama77 and cake from blockofthewritingkind, yay!**

* * *

**Your Friends vs My Friends**

xXxXx

"Hey Ax…_pst_…Axel!"

But Marluxia's words never hit the redhead. He tried again. And again, with no progress. Failing to get his attention, the pink-haired boy sat back in his seat and took some paper out, quickly filling out a note.

Actually a lot of things hadn't caught Axel's attention that morning. Such as the important lecture notes the teacher had discussed for their upcoming exam, (and had he paid attention, he might have wrote some of them down), or the way Larxene was giving him weird glances from her seat next to him.

But that wasn't to say Axel wasn't attentive. No no no, the pyro was very much the observer. And right now the subject he was observing was the back of Roxas' head.

Yes, the gang was all now assembled at the back of the History classroom, where they usually sat. Marluxia and Axel were at the very back because then nobody would notice them falling asleep. Larxene occasional sat between the two, as she did today, because her answers were usually correct and the two boys had compromised on sharing her on exam days. (But now she wish she hadn't as Marluxia was still trying to get Axel's attention and she was right in the middle of it!)

Demyx sat in front of Larxene because he was not privileged enough to steal her answers. And because whenever he tried to, he made it very obvious and always ended up getting the whole group caught. That left a space in front of Axel where Sora usually sat, but today it was being occupied by his twin brother. Who apparently had really nice hair as Axel noticed.

Of course he shouldn't have noticed it at all. The redhead had begged Marluxia to let him switch places, because staring at Roxas every once in a while was one thing, but having the kid sit directly in front of him and being forced to stare at him every minute was another. (Although 'forced' might not have been the correct word there.)

Unfortunately the petal-obsessed teen had refused. Saying something about him being left-handed so he had to sit on Larxene's left side in order to copy her answers, but of course Axel couldn't see a correlation between the two because it doesn't matter which hand you hold a pencil with because it shouldn't affect your cheating abilities and he was pretty sure Marluxia wasn't left handed either and _this wasn't fucking working_…..

Axel let out a frustrated breath of air, lowering his head and resting it on his hand, palm up. His other hand was laying on the desk, absent-mindedly drumming his fingers against the hard surface.

The redhead looked everywhere but at Roxas. The walls, the ceiling, his desk. But it seemed that his image of Roxas' head and back was already burned into his memory, accurate to the very last detail. Even the blond's posture, sitting straight up attentively and facing forward. His body slightly leaning forward against the desk like a perfect little student, and whenever he took notes he….no…not good…this had to stop!

He just couldn't think! No wait, he could think. Because right now he was thinking about the way Roxas' hair would brush against the nape of his neck whenever he leaned back, which was much too often than Axel would have liked.

But Axel wasn't suppose to think about that either. He tried to clear his mind of everything and force himself to concentrate on something else. _Anything_ else. Anything other than _Roxas_.

But all he could concentrate on was that damn kid.

The redhead took in another breath of air, holding it and hoping it might clear his head of all things Roxas. He didn't even know why he was staring at him. He briefly wondered what Sora would have thought about this. _Oh god he'd kill me. _And with that thought in mind he decided to ignore Roxas seriously this time.

Of course it's pretty hard to ignore someone sitting right in front of you. Axel glanced at the clock on his right, how long had his internal battle been? Surely class should be over soon. To his surprise it read 11:36.

_IT'S ONLY BEEN SIX MINUTES? _

Class had barely started and Roxas had completely taken over his mind. Even when Marluxia finished writing his letter and crumpled it into a ball and thrown it at Axel (of course the first two times it hit Larxene instead) the redhead had still failed to register it.

Marluxia watched as his attempt at getting Axel's attention hit the student and bounced off unnoticed. Frustrated he went back to leaning over Larxene's desk and whispering loudly at Axel. "_Psst, Axel… Hey you idiot! I'm trying to ge-" _

"WILL YOU SHUT UP? HE'S NOT LISTENING TO YOU!"

Both of the boys Larxene sat between jumped at her exclamation. Marluxia a bit embarrassed and Axel just the slightest confused. From where he were sitting, he could hear Demyx burst out laughing. Unfortunately the teacher hadn't found it so funny.

"A problem Miss Larxene?" was the cold reply.

Their History teacher Ms. Paine was probably one of the strictest teachers of all. With a tolerance level as high as Axel's IQ and a no funny business policy, she was someone greatly feared. Maybe her students would have found her a bit friendlier if she stopped wearing so much leather and metal, and maybe give up her biker look.

Larxene returned her answer in a polite voice that failed to hide her anger and annoyance. "No Ms. Paine."

By then Axel had started to figure a few things out. Marluxia threw him another note, which he caught this time. As he hid the crumpled paper inside his desk, waiting for the teacher to turn around, he took a look around to see if any of the other students had noticed. The first few curious glances past after a minute or so. Demyx's laughter died down after a stern look from the teacher. He also noticed, to his dismay that Roxas shoulders had stiffen and he looked pretty tense. Maybe he could feel Axel staring at him?

He slowly pulled the note out as the History teacher finished up reviewing, giving another once over to make sure no one would notice. Marluxia was facing forward now as to not bother Larxene any further, but Axel could see him watching him from the corner of his eye. He could also see Larxene still fuming and shaking with anger.

As he opened the crumpled note, he read the words that were probably on all the other group members' minds as well.

_We're skipping school today. What are we going to do about Roxas? _

xXxXx

At the moment, a certain brunet was being pinned to a locker (in a pretty unromantic way mind you) by another upperclassmen.

Of course this might have been part of Sora's fault. He knew Roxas didn't like talking to people-actually Roxas probably didn't like people in general-and he knew that probably caused his older brother to have a few enemies. But Sora had never imagined he'd run into one on his first day!

Still pressed against the locker, the brunet quickly went over his options. Had he been free, he could have made a run for it. After all, he was on the track team and he was pretty damn fast. Unfortunately he wasn't. The upperclassmen was still holding his shoulders down, but the pressure wasn't forced. So he figured his attacker only meant to keepfrom running away, not hurt him.

In truth, his 'attacker' didn't look very much like one either. From his position, all Sora could see was the boy's face. He had layered silver hair that seemed to go past his shoulders with strands covering his eyes. From beneath those bangs, Sora found himself staring into aquamarine orbs. He might have found them kinda pretty had they weren't staring back menacingly. But all in all, he looked like a normal guy (a bit on the girly side maybe), and not someone that would randomly attack you by shoving you against a locker.

Regardless of that, if Sora didn't do something quick, he'd get both him _and_ his brother in trouble. But the next thing he did probably made it even worst.

"Uh , what are you talking about?" asked Sora nervously. "_I'm _Roxas!"

The silver haired boy in front of him gave him a look of disbelief. Not because he didn't believe what Sora said, but more like he couldn't believe that Sora actually said it.

Sora thought it kinda matched the look Roxas gave him whenever he said something stupid. Like the time he asked where the light goes when you turned a flashlight off. Or the time he told Roxas he wanted to start a key collection….or…

"Look." The tone of voice the boy used made Sora stop his train of thought.

Riku loosened his hold on the boy. He really didn't have time for this. All he was suppose to do that morning was get to class on time, pretend he was interested in what the teacher was saying, and make fun of Kairi. Unfortunately Seifer and his gang had 'distracted' him for a bit, causing him to be late. And now he was going to be even more late (so much for perfect attendance...) because he ran into some guy that looked exactly like Roxas.

Or at least...Riku _thought_ he looked like Roxas.

Still keeping his hold on theboy, Riku backed up a bit. He let his eyes scan over him, making sure his previous assumption was correct. _What if this really was Roxas?_ This could all be a horrible mistake.

Riku barely noticed as the boy seemed to shift uncomfortably beneath the scrunity. _No this couldn't be Roxas._ No matter how much they looked alike. Even if the boy claimed he had dyed his hair brown, there was still the matter of his attitude...or the kids' lack of one really. The Roxas he knew would have recognized Riku and pushed him off long ago, and follow it up with some 'leave me alone and go fix your hair' insult.

"I _know_ you're not Katsurada, so quit lying and tell me who the fuck really you are." He said annoyedly.

Well, that was the second time that morning Sora had been subjected to that comment. Either he was a really bad actor, or Roxas had very close enemies…or friends...or both.

"Um, well you see." He started, not quite sure how to explain all this.

"This is actually a pretty funny story and all….and...you're...not…laughing." The boy in front of him narrowed his eyebrows, which made Sora quicken his weak explanation.

"Okay, I get it. Who am I? Um...actually I _am_ a Katsurada. I'm Roxas' brother see? Now...can you let go of me." Sora cowered a bit under the gaze, failing to notice that it had actually softened a bit.

Oh, so he was right. Well, that made things a lot less awkward. Riku let go of the boy and stepped back, crossing his arms. That left plenty of space to run away, but the boy stayed put..._or maybe it would just makes things more awkward._

Sora noticed that the silver haired teen had moved back. But just a bit. Did that mean he could leave now? Or did the guy still want to talk to him? Or maybe he hadn't believed him when he said he was Roxas' brother because he had lied to him before! Yes, that was it.

"No really! I really am his brother! I know I lied and said I was Roxas at first, but that was only because...well I can't tell you why. But anyways, now I'm telling the truth, honest! I-"

"Whoa, easy. Calm down kid."

One minute Riku had been staring at a slightly scared kid leaning against the locker, the next he had freaked and started acting like Riku was going to beat him up. Well, he couldn't really blame the kid after his actions.

"I'm not gonna hurt you so just calm down. You two look exactly alike, I'd have to be blind not to believe you two were brothers."

To further express that he meant his rival's little brother no harm, he put both his hands up in a calm-down gesture. And it seemed to have worked, because the brunet had stopped panicking. It was still weird for Riku to imagine that this look-alike was related to an emotionless Roxas.

"Oh, that's good!" Exclaimed Sora, sounding like it was a huge relief now that he had his identity covered. The tone of voice he used next suggested that he and Riku had been friends all along.

"So uh, you any ideas what hall we're in? I'm kinda lost." And now the kid was smiling at him!

Riku, still not used to getting so much emotion from a kid that looks just like Roxas, wasn't quite sure how to respond. Hadn't he been afraid that Riku was going to beat him up just a minute ago? And now he was trying to socializing with him?

"You're lost?" asked Riku, more suspicious than curious.

"Um...yeah! I'm a new student!"

"That would explain why I haven't seen you before..._but _why would a student transfer to another school at the end of the year?"

Sora mentally kicked himself. He hadn't thought of that yet and his lies were just getting him into more and more trouble. Oh, why did he have to be so obvious? With the boy's arms still crossed, a foot tapping on the floor impatiently, and the silver eyebrows still narrowed at him, Sora was pretty sure there was no way out of this. But the interrogation didn't stop there.

"And since when does a magnet school accept one right before the final exams? Especially if it's a _senior_. Don't you think it'd be pointless to take the exams at a prestigious high school without attending it for more than a week?"

Yes, let's see the kid talk himself out of that. Riku tilted his head and smirked. There was no way someone was going to make a fool out of Riku Hamazaki...well, unless they happened to be a really desperate Sora.

"Fine!" The brunet threw his hands in the air above his head.

"You've got me! I'm not really a new student!"

Aha! So Riku _was_ right. Satisfied with making the boy confess, he was about to just leave it at that. He really didn't care what his rival's little brother was doing in his school. And talking to this kid was enough excitement than he wanted for one day. Unfortunately he got more than he bargained for.

"And ya know what else?" Sora dropped his hands and placed them on his hip, in a frustrated pose.

Everything about his first day was going just wrong. He gets lost, he finds out his brother might be potentially gay, he gets lost again, and now some random guy had just found out about his identity-and possibly about the switch up. So what else could possibly go wrong if he pushed it? As if it could get any worst than this.

"I didn't just lie about attending this school or about pretending to be Roxas, I LIED ABOUT BEING RELATED TO HIM TOO!"

Riku raised an eyebrow as the brunet exploded on him.

"Yea, that's right! I'm not really his brother! Roxas is actually my _clone_!" screamed Sora manically. Because once Sora got started, there was no stopping him.

"Created by the DARKNESS from the other side of my heart! That's why he looks exactly like me-but meaner! And the reason you haven't seen me before is because he stole all my memories and locked me in a pod. But then I broke out and got my memories back. And then I stole Roxas' clothes so I could attend his school and get back at him!"

When Sora was done with his outburst, he was left panting and took a much needed breath of oxygen. His hands, which had been gesturing animatedly the whole time, then dropped to his sides. He leaned back against the locker in a defeated manner with a loud 'thump' as he awaited the other boy's judgment.

But all Riku could do was stare at him.

"You...are...the...worst...liar...I have **ever** met."

xXxXx

Axel wasn't really quite sure what to make of the situation. Oh one hand, he really wanted to skip school. I mean come on, who doesn't? It's like the most boring thing in the world, even the teachers don't like coming-and they get _paid_ to come!

But on the other, he had a feeling Roxas wasn't really the type of person to go around playing hooky whenever he felt likeit. A shame really. If the kid did, then he might have had more friends, and maybe a bit of a social life. But regardless, Axel knew it would take one hell of a reason to get Roxas to ditch with them.

"Alright class, clear your desk. We're taking the exam NOW."

Axel's jaw dropped. _He had totally forgotten about the exam!_

"WE'RE TAKING THE EXAM?"

Fortunately, since all the good little students around him that were paying attention were packing away their stuff and made enough noise so the teacher hadn't hear him. But Larxene did.

"Yes you idiot. Weren't you paying attention?" She asked annoyedly.

Honestly. Today was _just _not her day. First she ran out of hair gel that morning after doing only one side of her bangs. Then Axel and Marluxia tried to have a conversation with her in the middle of it (and it was so distracting she wasn't even able to concentrate when their teacher were reviewing-she swore, if she failed that exam both of their heads would come off). And now the redhead was asking her stupid questions.

"Wh-Which subject is the exam on?"

"We're in HISTORYclass, so I assume it's _history_ Axel!"

The redhead shielded away from the angry blonde. Okay, so maybe he had gotten on Larxene's bad side a bit too much that day. He didn't mean to, but hey! Maybe she could help convince Roxas to skip school with them. It wasn't like they couldn't just leave the kid here and fend for himself.

"Honestly Axel, what the hell have you been doing the whole time?" She asked again. Yes she knew Axel had ADD, but it was always a good thing to make sure.

"Umm..."

Well he couldn't have very well told her he had been staring at the back of Roxas' head the whole time now could he? Actually he could, but she just wouldn't believe him. Or maybe she might, but then she'd laugh at him or-

A packet of sheets fell upon his desk as a brown haired girl passed them out. She then moved up to the row in front of Axel and handed one to Roxas.

"Oh wow Sora! When did you bleach your hair? It looks really cool." she giggled.

Axel watched as Roxas tried to look at anywhere but her. Desperately hoping the girl would leave, but not without abrief change ofconversation of course. "Um thanks...uh..."

Quick to the save, the redhead leaned in on the other side of Roxas so she wouldn't see. He didn't even notice when the blond suddenly stiffen as he felt Axel's breath on him. In truth, he had just wanted to get closer to Roxas after sitting behind him for so long.

"Her name's Olette." he whispered.

"Uh, thanks Olette!" replied Roxas nervously. As she gave him another friendly smile and returned to her seat, Roxas quickly relaxed. Or maybe it was because Axel wasn't so close anymore.

But either way, Axel hadn't been watching for once and he missed it. Instead he was looking the problems on the sheet. Problems he might have known the answer to had he done the homework, paid attention in class, attended school regularly, or one of the above.

He only vaguely heard the teacher tell them to start as he bubbled in the first answer.

_It's definitely B. _

Axel stared at the question again. Maybe B wasn't the correct answer. It was too obvious.

_Aha a trick!_ Axel quickly erased it and circled A.

After a few seconds Axel started to reconsider it again. Maybe it was B after all? He erased that and changed it again.

_Or maybe that's what they wanted us to think!_ Changed his answer again.

_No wait, A for Axel._

Convinced that this wasn't working the redhead adopted another strategy. _I wonder what Larxene has..._

Green eyes quickly flashed to the left. It read D on the scan-tron sheet. Axel pondered this a bit. Well Larxene _was_ a lot smart than him. As he was about to change his answer yet again, another thought hit him. What if Larxene was still mad at him for annoying him in class, so she wrote down the wrong answer purposely knowing that he would copy it!

_Ha! There was no outsmarting the ingenious Axel._

The redhead proudlyf illed in the circle for C. Hmm, he wondered what Roxas had put for the first question. No wait, if he started staring at the kid again there'd be no telling when he'd finish his quiz!

But Axel had already made the mistake of looking up. Roxas was currently leaning against the desk with his head down, completely absorbed in the test. He could see his head move slightly from side to side as he scanned the questions lightening fast. The blond's pencil never staying in one place at a time as he used it to underline a sentence or fill an answer, or occasionally bite on it. Not that Axel could tell since he was sitting _behind _him, but he had seen Roxas do that quite a few times that day to know it was a habit the blond had.

He leaned over a bit further to see Roxas' answers, only to see that they wouldn't do him much good since he was already on the third page. Well it shouldn't have been a surprised that Roxas could answer all those questions so fast, but considering the fact that Axel was still on _the first question_...he should probably hurry up.

Well, it couldn't be too hard. His first answer was totally C or at least he thought so. And now for his second answer...he briefly wondered what Roxas had for the second one and looked up again.

Weeks later, when they had gotten their scores back in the mail, Axel found he had gotten almost every question wrong on the history exam-including the first one.

xXxXx

The silver haired teen was giving him that look again. The one that usually meant 'I can't believe you just said that' or 'Why didn't you quit when you were ahead?' Not that Sora was very much ahead in the first place. Okay, so maybe it was a 'Why didn't you quit when you weren't that far behind?' kinda look.

But either way, it was better than having those aquamarine eyes glaring at him. If anything, they almost looked amused which made Sora feel slightly more comfortable. He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side in the same fashion that the boy in front of him had done.

"Soooo, if Roxas and I look exactly alike. Then how did you figure it out?" he asked, partly to get rid of the silence that was starting to form.

"You don't have an attitude problem like he does." Was Riku's nonchalant reply. He said it without thinking (much like the way the other kid talked-or so it seemed) so it might have sounded a bit harsh.

A bit too harsh maybe, because the brunet in front of him stopped smiling. Riku watched as the kid's face fell and as he looked off to the side, his shoulders began to sag. The once twinkling blue orbs that were animated with life during his 'explanation', were now replaced with something akin to sadness. It was just too much emotion in one conversation for Riku! How could the kid change so fast?

Feeling a bit sorry for him (and now completely convinced that Roxas had gotten all the smarts and left his brother with all the emotions...) he decided to change the subject. Not that they were really talking in the first place. And since Riku wasn't very skilled at cheering people up, he used the first excuse he could think of.

"Katsurada, you better get to class." he said, and waited for the boy to leave. Instead he the boy turned and his head to face him again, the enthusiasm gone.

"I'm lost remember?"

Riku sighed.

"Oh right, didn't Katsurada give you _any _instructions on how to get to class or something? I mean for crying out loud you're his own goddamn brother. You'd think that idiot Katsurada would show _some_ hint of kindness and self-lessness..."

"Um..." Sora didn't really feel comfortable interrupting, but the matter had been bothering him for a while now.

"...since Roxas and I are brothers we kinda share the same last name. So when you say it like that it kinda sounds like you're talking about me and that's just weird-"

"Get used to it."

Riku stared at the boy in a manner that left no room for discussion.

"Look, if you're really Roxas' brother then he wouldn't want you talking to me." He said.

But did Riku really care? Of course not! If Riku became friends with his rival's brother, then that would no doubt anger Roxas. And as much as Riku would have liked to get back at his rival, this kid just wasn't worth it.

But as he turned his back to leave, Sora called out again.

"Why not? And why do you keep calling him Katsurada! He has a first name you know. Actually I do know you know because I heard you use it whe-"

Okay this was getting annoying. You'd think by know the kid would recognize who Riku was. Popular or not, if he really was Roxas' brother than surely he would have heard of him?

Riku wheeled around on the spot, never wanting to get to class so much in his life before. "Do you even know who I am?" he asked annoyedly.

The brunet, who was about to walk up to him stopped in his tracks. He used both his hands gesture animatedly in his reply.

"Of course not! You never told me your name! And I told you who _I_ was."

Riku definitely did _not _have time for this. "You're brother calls me Hamazaki."

The upperclassmen waited to see a spark. Any spark, maybe one of recognition at the name. Or maybe one of shock at finding out he had been talking to his older brother's arch enemy the whole time. But Riku never saw one.

"You still don't know who I am, do you?" He let out a sigh and brought a hand up against his forehead and temple.

Sora, still completely confused just stared at him. Was he suppose to recognize him? After all, the silver haired teen had known who he was. Maybe he was friends with Roxas after all if he could sit through all of Sora's explanation and put up with their interesting conversation. He was about to ask what the teen had he meant by that comment when the person he was looking for found _him._

"There you are! I was looking for you an-oh…it's you! What are _you _doing here!"

Both males turned around to see a fuming redhead storm towards them. Her death glare focused directly at Riku.

xXxXx

He didn't know how, but he _knew _it. He just knew it. Or more rather-he felt it. There was no denying it. Axel was staring at him...AGAIN.

Roxas had sat down in front of the redhead, dispite his wishes. But everyone had already known where they were sitting and he was the last one to claim a seat. It was later pointed out that it was Sora's seat all along-and had he had time to pick another seat, he wouldn't have been able to anyway. But the thought that he could have avoided all of this was hopeful.

It wasn't that bad at first. Sure it wasn't next to a window, but he hadn't brought his sketch book either. And if he slouched a bit and leaned back just right, he could avoid watching the creepy female goth teacher and stare at his desk. Of course it probably didn't matter whether or not the teacher saw him paying attention. Because the guy sitting next to him was making paper footballs in plain view and the teacher was either completely blind or chose not to notice.

That guy also happened to be Demyx. Who, from time to time would accidentally flick a football onto his desk and make a loud ruckus trying to receive it. Just when he thought he had escaped the musician, he ended up right next to him.

The beginning of the class had gone by uneventful at first. Demyx had flicked another one of those footballs, which was intercepted by Roxas' head, and he was about to tear up. Yes, to shreds just like the way he wanted to tear its owner up as well. But then he found a better use for it. The blond unfolded the football and flattened out the creases on his desk, with cries of dismay from Demyx at having his lovely form of entertainment ruined.

With paper on his desk and a pencil in his hand, Roxas was content with just drawing which was what he was about to.He vaguely heard the shout-like whispers from that weird pink haired guy behind him as he drew. Something about...ax...axe...Axel?

Wait a minute. Why hadn't he heard a single word from Axel lately? Usually the redhead wouldn't shut up, and now he was acting like he wasn't even there.

And that's when Roxas felt it. Axel's stare. There was no doubting that the pyro was yet again staring at him. Just his back, but still. It made him feel exposed. It was a prickly feeling that made the hair on his neck rise, which made him feel even more exposed because Axel was probably staring at his neck too.

But of course he couldn't just turn around and tell the damn freak to stop. Because then he'd be staring right at his face. And there was always a chance that Axel _wasn't_ staring and the feeling was just his imagination, and that would be awkward.

Well, that was until Larxene shouted. After that he was positively sure that Axel was checking him out.

And it was freaking him out. Goddamn it was creepy to have a guy behind your back staring at you. Because then you can't turn to the side and see if he had stop staring at you so you can calm down. Or if he is, then sometimes making eye contact will make the guy stop staring at you and stare somewhere else. But since Axel was sitting _right behind_ him, he had no way of telling if the redhead was still watching...his...every...move.

But he was safe right? As long as Axel was all the way back there and not here, Roxas was safe and had nothing to worry about right? Wrong.

Because when that was when that frizzy brown haired girl showed up. Kinda like Kairi but not as annoying. She was friendly enough and seemed pretty nice about it when Roxas had so obviously 'forgotten' her name, but why did she have to pick _him_ to be nice too? Because if she hadn't then Axel wouldn't have had to help him.

It was the scariest damn thing, getting help from that guy. Thinking that Axel was still all the way back there in his seat, and then the next minute have him right. Next. To. You.

He had barely heard Axel call her Olette or something. The name of the girl. But whatever, it still scared the hell out of him to have Axel breathing on his ear like that. And he wasn't sure, but it seemed like the pyro had stayed there longer than he should have after relaying her name.

"Hey...Rox...Roxas!"

And now it was Demyx's turn to bother Roxas, interrupting his thoughts. Yes, they were taking their exam now. Actually Roxas' was taking Sora's exam, but you get the point. The blond tried to ignore him, but Demyx kept pestering.

"Rox, hey buddy what's the answer to 28? Hello?"

The teacher must have been deaf not to have heard him. And Demyx must have cheated his way into Destiny High. That much Roxas was sure of.

"Okay nevermind, what about question 29?"

Demyx still hadn't given up with getting an answer out of Roxas. And of course the blond went along ignoring him. Because ignoring people was what Roxas did best, and cheating was something he couldn't stand.

It was wrong. People shouldn't be allowed to get credit for other's work. And if they had just studied a little bit, they might actually learn that they know a lot more than they thought they knew. Or something like that. _And yet here he was cheating for his brother._

_"Rooooooooooxas!"_

The blond sighed. Why wouldn't Demyx just shut up? He wasn't going to give him his fucking answer! And with that he tried to concentrate on his exam again, ignoring Demyx and ignoring the feeling that told him Axel was staring again.

xXxXx

Kairi had turned around for just one second-just _one_ little second to talk to one of her friends, and the next Sora was gone. It was as quick as talking to Selphie about her new shoes then turning around to find a sea of students and no Sora.

Well okay, maybe she did take a while talking to Selphie. But it important! She had just bought the cutest pink skirt over the weekend. She was serious, it had frills at the bottom and a cute purple belt to hold it up and everything. It was so much prettier than the plain plaid ones the school required them to wear of course. And with that she also had bought these white slip-ons shoes that not only matched her new skirt, but this other tank top...But anyway, the point was that she had been distracted for a minute too long.

So after apologizing to Selphie for the rush exit, she immediately turned around and back-tracked to where she might have lost Sora. Apparently she must have been talking for a lot longer than she thought, because she ended up walking past two empty hallways. And at the end of them, guess what she found.

_Riku._

"...oh it's you! I should have known!"

Sora turned around at the sound of her voice. At first a bit surprised since he hadn't seen her, but then relaxed as he recognized his helper. Who at the moment, wasn't exactly helping.

What was going on, Sora was confused. Did they know each other? He was about to turn around and ask the silver haired guy but noticed that he was already _leaving._ And he was moving hurriedly too. Maybe he had somewhere to go? But they were still talking, sort of.

"Uh, hey wai-"

"Come on _Roxas_." said Kairi angerly, stressing his brother's name and grabbed his arm. For a girl she was a lot stronger than she looked, since she was now dragging him out of the hall.

Roxas. Oh right. He was supposed to pretend he was his brother to keep people from finding out about the switch-up...well a lot of good that did him.

"Um, yea. Kairi about that. There's something you should probab-" he started but he was cut off.

"Not now Sora. And hurry up, we're late for class." It was okay to use his name now since they were already at another hallway. Wow, they were moving pretty fast.

Well Sora had no trouble keeping up with her, he wasn't on the track team for nothing. But he was still curious about what the hell had just happened. So he slowed down, when Kairi noticed she stopped as well.

"What?" She asked. And she actually sounded concern, not at all annoyed or anything. If she was desperate to get to class-as Sora sure she was since they were pretty late-she didn't let it show in her voice.Kairi was a really nice girl.

"Who was that guy?"

"You mean you don't know?" He had Kairi' full attention now. All thoughts of getting back to class forgotten. Sora briefly wondered what had gotten her so worked up.

"Well not really I-"

"So your brother never told you?" she asked with a tilt of her head, her brows knitted in concentration.

"Well, Roxas doesn't really talk about his friends in sch-"

"That wasn't Roxas' friend. Didn't he tell you his name?"

Sora was actually starting to notice that all his sentences were being cut. Ever since Kairi arrived, he hadn't been able to finish a single thought.

"Yea, he said he was Hamazaki."

Silence. Yes Kairi had actually let him finish his sentence. In fact, she hadn't spoken at all afterwards, she was just standing there, with her arms crossed and staring at him with that tilted look of hers. Like she was waiting for him to say anything. Not that Sora knew what it was.

"That's his _last _name." he tried.

Maybe there was a chance Kairi didn't know him either and she just didn't like guys other than Roxas in general. But the statement left Kairi unchanged. The redhead was still quiet and giving him that look. As if understanding Sora's confusement, she unhooked a hand and waved it in the air in a circular motion several times. Clearly expressing for Sora to move on.

"Uh...most people don't introduce themselves by their last na-"

Kairi rolled her eyes and sighed. Yes, a sigh! It was almost like an interruption, so Sora stopped anyway in his sentence. Glad that he was getting a response, and hopefully an answer soon.

The redhead looked back at him and titled her head the other way, in a tired pose.

"You still don't know who he is, do you Sora?"

"Not a clue."

Kairi gave another sigh. If she was so worried about getting to class early before, she was sure taking her sweet time now. Sora waited patiently, still unsure of what the big deal was. Why was everyone acting like he was suppose to know some guy he just meet? It wasn't like Roxas talked about that many people in his school anyway. Just Kairi sometimes and that other kid nam-

"Like you said, he's Hamazaki. Riku Hamazaki."

The words rung in his head. His jaw dropped and his eyes widen in disbelief. It was as if the hallway they were in just got bigger and the last two words were now echoing off the walls and getting louder each time. He might have found it ironic how Kairi had interrupted his thoughts too, but the only thing he could think about now was how badly this situation had gotten. It was like everything was screwed up and the hallway had suddenly gotten too empty.

Sora barely heard the next words Kairi said. But he didn't need too, he already knew them.

"Riku Hamazaki, that's the guy your brother hates."

xXxXx

The exam hadn't taken that long. In fact, it was ridiculously easy. Roxas had known all the answers-but just to make sure he purposely missed half the questions at the end so Sora would only barely pass. Or else suspicions might rise from his brother's sudden burst of genius.

So with nothing to do for half an hour, Roxas just sat there. A few students had finish their exams after Roxas did and had gotten up to leave. The teacher had allowed anyone who finished early to go to their next class. But of course without Axel, the blond had no idea where to go next…unfortunately.

"Demyx hurry up!"

Roxas hadn't turned around but recognized the voice as belonging to Larxene's. The blond looked sideways and noticed that Demyx was the last of the group to finish. Of course it wasn't at all Roxas' fault and his decision to not help the musician cheat.

The only girl sitting behind him was getting pretty annoyed. "The last ones are A, D, B and B. Now come on!"

Demyx furiously copied the answers Larxene had given him down. "Got it!"

It slightly disgusted Roxas at watching them cheat. Yes, cheating was pretty common at his school too since grades were everything, regardless of whether you earned them or not. But here the answers were thrown outcarelessly, without a single thought of actually passing the exam, but just to get it over with.

"Great then let's go. Come on Roxas."

The next voice came from behind his this time, and he knew it immediately as Axel's. After hearing it so close to his ear with Axel breathing on him like that, it was kinda hard to forget. Roxas practically had his voice memorized. Yeah, it was that creepy.

The group headed for the door, with Demyx in the lead who had bolted immediately after finishing the test.

Once they were in the hall, Roxas began following them to his next class. Assuming that all of them _had_ the same class, since they were still walking together. He noticed-but wasn't surprised to find- that Axel had fallen into step next to him.

The other three were talking animatedly with each other up front, but the redhead was quiet again. Just like during the exam, which Roxas _knew_ Axel had tried to cheat off of. He could feel the redhead staring at him the whole time. And because he didn't want that to happen again now, he spoke up.

"Where are we going?" he asked curiously, watching Axel through the corner of his eye.

The teen next to him looked a bit surprised as Roxas spoke. But not at all embarassed that the blond had caught him staring again. Roxas decided to change his thought to_ really_ _creepy._

"What?" came the puzzled reply.

"I asked where we were going." Said Roxas, he took a good look of his surrounds and noticed that they were in a different section of the school he didn't recognize.

"We're not…going to class are we?" It sounded more like a statement than a question to Axel.

Wow, this kid was fast! He hadn't really expected Roxas to catch on that fast, hopefully buying him some time to convince Roxas to skip school with him. But in truth, it seemed like the blond was going to come with them willingly, but he still didn't look pleased.

"Oh, yeah. Well since we're done with the exam and everything we can just skip the rest of school day. It's perfectly okay, ya know? It's not like the teachers care whether or not we're there unless we're taking the test and all."

"That's not what I'm concern about." cut Roxas.

Axel stopped in his excuses on why it was okay to ditch class. In all the other high schools, classes usually ended right after the final exams. But Twilight Town felt that they needed to keep their students in for the whole day. Something about a gang problem if their students weren't being productive in school. Ha, like that would really stop them.

"Does my brother skip school with you guys too?"

Oh, so Roxas was being a concerned older brother? How touching. Now Axel could tell Sora later on that Roxas actually cared about his well being and asked about him. Even if it was because he found out Sora skipped classes. Which wasn't a good thing for his older brother to be asking about. Quick, change the subject!

"Well, sometimes yeah." Said Axel, he didn't really want to lie. And besides, he had a feeling Roxas would know if he did.

"How often?"

Okay, now Axel was starting to get a bit worried himself. Roxas' voice didn't sound too happy. And although he didn't look angry either, the blond had proved he could be quite the personality problem kid sometimes.

"Well, ya know. Every once and a while. It doesn't hurt since the teachers ditch class all the time too." Okay, that was a lie but Axel wasn't about to tell him that.

"And besides, why do you care?" he asked.

It was only to get Roxas to stop asking questions, he hadn't meant it in any way. In fact, he was sure Roxas-being the smart kid he was, could have plenty of reasons why he was concern with his brother's education. But the blond had taken it the wrong way.

"He's my fucking brother. Of course I care about him." He shot back a bit defensively.

And maybe it was because Axel didn't like it when people raised their voice at him. Or maybe it was because Sora would always complain to him about how his brother could be such an emotionless uncaring jerk (not Sora's words of course…Axel might have twisted them a bit) and now Roxas was acting like he cared. Either way, the reply slipped before Axel could stop it.

"Your brother doesn't seem to think so."

Roxas suddenly halted. His breath caught in his throat.

Axel, who was still walking stopped as well and turned around. _I can't believe I just said that_. The blond's face was still emotionless but it looked rigid this time. His eyes flashed something that looked like hurt. And although Roxas wasn't shouting or crying or looking angry, Axel thought that was the most emotion he would ever see from him. And he really wished he hadn't.

"Umm...I didn't mean that." He said hurriedly.

And of course he hadn't! What was he thinking saying that Sora didn't think he cared. Sora probably thought he cared lots, which was probably why he was always talking about Roxas. And even though Axel knew that half the thingshe was just thinking was made up, he still wanted to take back his words. Only to make Roxas stop looking like that.

The blond started walking again and moved right past him.

"Whatever." The reply sounded cold and he hadn't looked at the redhead when he said it.

Axel watched Roxas walk away, his head faced forward with his hands in his pockets. Obviously trying to brush the pyro's last statement off. Axel took a breath of air, not realizing he had held his breath in the first place. With everyone else already in front of him the redhead ran to catch up, still cursing himself under his breath and wondering why he felt so bad.

xXxXx

* * *

Yes! Two cliffhangers! Well, sort of. Now you guys can kill me over twice. Heh heh. 

This chapter switched back and forth between them quite a lot, so sorry if anyone got confused. And that whole thing with Sora...yea. I have nothing else to say about that other than that if someone locked me up in a pod and took my memories, I'd be pretty pissed too. XD And the scene with Axel and his test answers idea came from a PM with Jessie Luna.

Oh, and also. Some people asked about Sora's and Roxas' parents. Well I didn't just write the chapter to leave their background hanging like that. I'll expand on it later. (Roxas didn't become emo over night mind you………or maybe he did. XD)

Well, this chapter is actually shorter than the previous one. That means I'm getting better at controling the length! But that also means that their first day is going to take up three chapters…and I have two whole weeks of storytime to do. So I'll probably have to get better at this. Anyways, everything I promised in the previous chap will be in the next one. So….

….Review!


	5. Fist Fights vs Verbal Fights

Another long wait-SORRY! But this is the longest chapter so far, ack. Also I realized that I actually do suck at grammar, so now I have two beta reader! **Lorien Moore** proof reads my _How Close Is Close Enough?_ fic and **Hakumei Mikomi** proof reads……THIS ONE!

So yah, any grammar mistakes? Blame them on her! Haha! Wait no, just kidding-just kidding XD More thanks-yous at the bottom…

And I just found out a few days ago that by calling Sora a 'brunnette' I'm actually calling him a girl o.O So being the authoress I am-with my duty to my readers- I actually went back through all the chapters and changed them all to 'brunet.' And while I was at it, I noticed that ffnet ATE SO MANY OF MY SPACES so I had to fix that too, and then for some reason I got mad so I changed the language so that people cursed more often enough to make the rating to M. Yesh, this fic is now M for language, violence (um, no not really….), drugs/alcohol (wait-what?), and the inevitable yaoi fluff (okay, _that_ made sense).

**Discalimer: I own nothing, except the stuff below……you guys are awesome. **

**Claimer:** I own….a FUZZY chocobo plushie from **Ariaana**, a Sora plushie from **Adhar**, an akuroku 'buttsecks?' plushie from **Hakumei Mikomi** (thanks again for beta-ing!), a _water-proof_ Demyx plushie from **Revelation**, and a lucky alien keychain from **black vapor **that helped me pass my exams XD

* * *

**Fist Fights vs Verbal Fights**

xXxXx

"Those shoes look soooooo cute!" exclaimed a girl sitting next to Kairi.

"Thanks!" Replied the redhead.

The two girls were sitting outside on the school's front lawn. Apparently their school thought that no student in their right mind would run away if the school allowed them to eat outside. And of course everyone took advantage of the fresh air rather than the cafeteria. After all that class work inside, it was a nice change to see your friends again. Unfortunately it wasn't the same for Sora.

"I got these boots for half price, can you believe it?" exclaimed Kairi, showing off her pink boots with matching laces.

"Where did you get them?"

Yes, Sora was there. Not in the conversation-but still there. Sitting on the other side of Kairi and in front of Yuffie. It might also be important to mention that he was the only boy there.

"That shop that just opened in the Traverse Mall." Shared Kairi.

"But that place is expensive!" Exclaimed the girl whose name Sora hadn't even learned yet.

"Yeah! I got these white boots there and it cost my entire month's pay!" Added Yuffie, pointing to her own feet.

Well, her leg actually. Her boot went all the way up to her knees and it was a wonder she could walk –nevertheless run- in them. The dress code must have been lenient with the student's footwear.

And of course Sora couldn't care less. The brunet _really_ didn't want to be there. A minute ago the girls were talking about make-up and shades of eyeliner. And now shoes! It was no longer a wonder why Roxas never spoke about his uh…friends.

"Hey, are those new shoes Roxas?" asked the girl next to Kairi.

Oh right, still Roxas. Still undercover. Well he had been completely silent and bored throughout the whole conversation so there was no reason for suspicion to rise now. And even if the girl had figured out something of his identity, he could always brush her off and it would add to his Roxas image. But still, there was something about her that made Sora keep his guard up.

"Um….." the brunet looked down at his huge-yellow-shoe-clad feet. Oops. Despite Roxas lending him all of his uniform, his older brother had refused to trade his converses for Sora's gigantic clown shoes. It wasn't his fault he had weird tastes…

"He lost a bet," Kairi chimed in quickly. He probably should have been insulted by that, but he was more grateful for the save…….he liked his shoes dammit.

"Yeah, with uh….Sora," he added. It was really weird talking about himself like that-and he must have made a face when he said it because he could see Kairi change the subject ever so quickly.

"So, what are you guys doing this Saturday?"

With the attention no longer focused on him, Sora went back to eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And occasionally glancing at that girl who had now moved beside Yuffie. She was talking excitedly with the other girls (Sora was surrounded…) and every time she laughed the tips of her brown hair would bounce against her shoulders. Actually, she had her hair curled at the bottom on each side and Sora couldn't help but think she looked like one of those cartoons from the oldies.

Her gaze eventually crossed Sora's again. He got a good glimpse of green before he quickly looked away, not because Sora liked her or anything. He just…didn't want to take any chances, that's all.

The bell that signaled the end of lunch rang. _Saved by the bell, thank god._ All the girls around him had already packed up and started to leave. Including that one girl that gave him a shy look beneath her brown bangs before getting up.

"You girls go on ahead, I'll catch up later," said Kairi.

As Sora pulled his backpack on everyone else had already left but her. He approached the redhead with a frown on his face. "Why didn't you go with them? I could have followed behind you guys."

"True." Kairi clasped her hand behind her and tilted her head. Sora was starting to learn that it usually meant she knew something that he didn't. Naturally he had been seeing a lot of that pose lately.

"But I wanted to ask you something first," the smile grew mischievous.

"Uh, okay. What?"

Sora was getting a bit uneasy. Kairi stopped looking at him and turned away. When she didn't speak he followed where her gaze was. It was right on the group of girls that they were eating lunch with earlier…..right on….her.

When Kairi noticed that the brunet's eyes had widen she giggled.

"You were staring at her the whole time." she stated, then faced Sora and asked innocently.

"Do you like her?"

Sora blushed. "NO!"

Kairi giggled again. He knew he must have sounded like he was lying-but he wasn't! Honest! Sora was just a bit curious about that girl, she looked really familiar. And he wasn't sure, but he swore he saw her somewhere before…

The redhead crossed her arms in front of her, giving herself an apprehending image. She looked Sora square in the eye seriously as she spoke.

"Good."

The brunet was slightly confused. "Good?"

"Yes, because she already has a boyfriend."

The senior looked over the side where all her girlfriends (that's _friends that are girls_ for those of you who just puked on your computer….) were starting to head in. The girl that Sora had been slyly staring at was near the back of the group-almost as if she was waiting for someone. A minute later a dirty blond teen appeared by her side, wrapping a tanned arm around her waist as the two started to walk slower, discreetly dislodging themselves from the group ahead.

But Sora hadn't followed Kairi's gaze this time and he missed the couple. He also missed the look of jealousy-_frustration_?-_longing?_ _Something totally unlike Kairi? _That flashed in her eyes for a brief second. And when she turned around at the sound of his voice, it was gone.

"What's her name?" asked Sora, still completely oblivious to everything.

"Selphie. Why, do you still like her?" giggled Kairi.

She knew Sora really didn't because he never did any of that funny stuff that guys did around girls they liked. But for some reason talking to Sora always cheered her up. And after seeing Selphie with her boyfriend…..well let's just say it was really annoying watching all her friends hook up, and here she was _still_ single. Sheesh, that's what she got for hanging out with Roxas all the time.

Sora blushed furiously again. "No! I already said I didn't!"

The redhead could help but start laughing at the boy's state. Yeah, Sora was a lot different than his brother. For one, she could actually _talk_ to him.

"Then why did you ask?" pried Kairi, with slight curiosity.

"Because, uh…." Sora started looking uncomfortable, and Kairi's suspicion started to rise again until.

"Did Selphie live on an island?"

Kairi blinked. Completely forgetting about her bad mood.

"Um, yeah. I think she mentioned that before."

The brunet's eyes widen. "Then I know her! She used to live at Destiny Islands with me and Roxas! We went to school together, Paupu Elementary or something. And she used to hang out with us all the time even though she was a girl. I had no idea she moved here too and…"

Another thing that was unlike Roxas, the redhead noticed, was Sora's way of constantly talking to himself. But she found it cute, and a nice change from Roxas' lack of talking at all.

Although Sora was thrilled at first to find another friend at Roxas' school, realization soon hit him. "Wait….why didn't she recognize me?"

Kairi was a bit reluctant to explain to Sora that Roxas didn't exactly keep in touch with friends. Kairi had to _force_ herself into his life, and sometimes she thought it still wasn't good enough. It was very unlikely that Selphie would remember either of them at this point.

"But he could have told me that people from our hometown-erm homeisland were here!" cried Sora. Maybe his other childhood friends were here too? Then he could stop hanging out with all these girls!

Kairi bit her lip. Even though Sora was his brother, it seemed like she knew Roxas better than he did.

"Wait." Said Sora again, this time a bit happier. "Selphie kept giving me these weird looks during lunch, maybe she _does_ remember me!"

Kairi remained silent, but when Sora faced her, Kairi looked like she was trying to suppress a smile. And oh, there goes the pose again. Any minute now Kairi was going to tell him something he didn't know and probably didn't want to know.

"That's because she likes Roxas."

Sora's jaw dropped.

xXxXx

When the two had finally exited the school and joined the group on the ground, Larxene immediately knew something was up. Axel sat down first, in the empty spot allotted for him next to Demyx. He looked a bit guilty and only half-heartedly replied and when the dirty blond greeted him, his own reply lacked the usual enthusiasm.

Roxas on the other hand found a tree nearest to the group and leaned against it before sitting down. He made sure not to make eye contact with Axel and as he sat, his arms were crossed and he seemed to ignore the group, not making a single sound.

So either Axel had done something incredibly stupid like making a pass at the blond, or Axel ……..wait no that's probably what he did.

Larxene gave everyone in the group a quick scan, noting that no one else had noticed. Demyx was staring at Axel as he talked, Marluxia was staring at some flowers, Roxas was staring at anywhere but Axel, and said redhead was staring at….oh in her direction!

The only girl there quickly made eye contact with the pyro and narrowed her blonde eyebrows in an _I-know-something's-up-and-I-know-it's-your-fault_ kind of condescending way.

The redhead seemed to shrink back from the gaze and subtly mouthed _'I didn't mean to'_ when Demyx turned around to find a spoon for his soup. Yes, they were eating lunch now. And what a peaceful, quiet lunch it was.

Thanks to Axel's indirect confession Larxene found it as her responsibility again to clear up the godforsaken tension. In the most sophisticated way she could think of.

"Hey Rox, what do you think a moomba is?"

Roxas stared at Larxene like the girl had grown two heads while pulling out her knife collection and had politely asked if she could use his chest as a dart board.

"What?" he asked in confusion disbelief.

"Oh yeah, Roxy should know what it is!" exclaimed Demyx with a mouth full of soup. The boy refused to eat anything that wasn't a liquid.

The blond still had no idea why Larxene had asked him such a stupid question. Nor did he know why he was eating lunch with a group of people like them. The nickname Demyx had given him bothered him to no end, the tomboy in front of him looked like she would beat him up if he didn't answer her question, and from the corner of his eye he saw Axel looking at him again.

Oh great…

"Uh, I think it's like…a mythical creature…or something." He lied. Roxas had no idea in hell what the heck a moomba was.

Demyx frowned. "Wait, than that means it's not an animal!"

As the whole group started to discuss about the controversial topic of what a moomba really was, Roxas effortlessly isolated himself from it. He really didn't want to be here. Part of him just wanted to storm out of the group and tell them that he thought they were idiots and wasting his time and that they should just get back to class, and the other part just wanted to take it all out on Axel.

He still didn't know why he was so mad at him either. Maybe it was because the redhead had talked about his brother like he actually knew them-which he didn't. He knew nothing about their lives.

Axel suddenly paused in his conversation with Demyx. The musician flashed a confused look that Axel missed because he wasn't looking at him. (Now that he couldn't stare at Roxas anymore-the pyro wasn't exactly sure where to put his eyes.) But as his gaze wandered, it finally landed on Marluxia, who at the moment was going to cause some trouble.

The pink haired boy was holding a white carton in his gloved hand. He flipped the top open with a push of his thumb and tilted the box until a cigarette came out.

Larxene caught the panicked look from Axel. It wasn't unusual for the group to skip school for a smoke every once and a while. And it was a surprise that Sora had never protested about it either. The kid even puffed himself, it wasn't that big of a deal. So the blonde found it touching how Axel was starting to care about the new kid so much.

"Mar, do you have to take a drag now?" she intervened.

It wasn't a surprise when the teen shot her a confused look. The day Larxene refused a smoke would be the day hell froze over. Or maybe the day Axel finally found a conscience.

A brown eyebrow that hadn't been dyed to match his pink hair rose. In a defensive tone that bordered on annoyance, Marluxia explained himself-although he wasn't sure why he had to in the first place.

"Yes, after that godforsaken exam, I do believe I deserve one."

And maybe if Axel had said something there or…..well. Never mind, there was no use now. Marluxia had already passed the box onto Demyx and now the musician was gleefully taking a cigarette out. Across from him Larxene looked like she had given up, her heart wasn't really into it in the first place and she probably needed one too.

He was almost afraid to turn around, but when he glanced at Roxas, the blond was fuming. Not to mention glaring at-_Axel_? Wait, why was he glaring at _him_? It wasn't like it was his fault! Marluxia was the one that brought the cigarettes, not him! And besides, Roxas couldn't have been that much of a prick to have never smoked before. Unless he was concerned about his darling brother again.

"Axel, can I use your lighter?" The redhead turned at the sound of his name.

Larxene was holding the box now and taking one out, and Marluxia-who had spoken- was now looking at him expectantly. As he dug into his back pocket, Axel figured it could have been worse. After all, Marluxia wasn't just obsessed with flowers, he loved all plants-and that included weed. He was just lucky the guy had brought a standard pack this time.

After he threw Marluxia his lighter, Larxene threw him the pack. He took one out, and without thinking he set the box down next to him. There was no way he was going to offer Roxas one, the redhead was almost angered that the group put him in that position.

"Aren't you going to ask Rox if he wants one Axel?" asked Demyx innocently, next to him.

Shit. There were times when he really wished Demyx wasn't involved. Of course he could never be really mad at the blond. And without turning around to face Roxas he extended his hand while holding the pack.

"You don't…." he started. But then quickly ended it. What the hell was he supposed to say?

Axel looked up and met Roxas' glare full on. _Ouch. He didn't look too happy_. Okay quick, what to say? What _is _there to say? Well, anything that would get him to stop looking at Axel like he wanted to tear his head off. (This also might be a bad time to say the blond looked really cute when he was angry.) Ah, of course! Bring Sora into the conversation….but first deny everything else.

"We, actually don't smoke all that much." Tried Axel again.

And by 'much' he meant less than once a day of course. And maybe Roxas could tell because his death glare hadn't decreased a bit and he had yet to say anything to Axel.

"And Sora never smokes either." He added.

From the corner of his eye he saw Demyx open his mouth, thinking quickly he quickly elbowed the musician in the ribs to silence him and prevent him from further damaging the situation.

"Stop lying."

Axel swore he heard Roxas growl. The blond crossed his arms and looked away from the group. He leaned against the tree behind him and tried to ignore Axel's gaze mostly.

There was a silence that followed as Axel got his lighter back.

But when the redhead lit his on fire and smoke filled the air, Roxas turned around again. Axel figured the blond was going to say something long the lines of_, it's bad for your health_. Or, _let's get back to school and have fun studying_! So his next comment caught him completely by off guard.

"Give me one."

If Roxas hadn't been staring at him dead on with a serious look on his face, Axel probably would have thought he was joking. He hesitantly grabbed the pack and handed it to Roxas.

"You don't have to you know. There's nothing for you to prove and if this is your first time it co-"

Axel immediately stopped his explanation-yes he was concerned for the kid. Just imagine what Sora would do to him if he told the kid his brother died from choking on smoke and it was Axel's fault- when Roxas grabbed the lighter from him as well.

The redhead was about to offer to get a light for him, after all-lighters were tricky. He once spent nine minutes watching Demyx try to get a spark. Which was why it was a surprise that Roxas had gotten one with his first try.

He didn't even flinch-which was what Demyx did and then dropped it and almost caught the school on fire for a second time.-But that probably meant nothing, right? They probably taught kids how to use a lighter in science class and stuff. And Roxas seemed like the type of person to be in some science club, right?

Axel merely watched as Roxas brought the lit cigarette towards his mouth and puffed. No choking, or wheezing or anything. The blond looked absolutely fine and natural as if he had done this before-_many_ times before. Axel smirked, his suspicions cleared up.

Here he was-just minutes before thinking how awful and guilty he was for getting Sora to smoke. And now it turned out Roxas was an avid smoker. Or maybe the kid was just really good at bluffing? Nah, no one could be that good. Maybe they could get along now after all?

"Hey Rox, you never told me you smoked before!" started Demyx. "When Sora first started he was coughing all over the place, it was pretty funny actually."

Axel mentally kicked himself for forgetting about Demyx. Roxas, who was still ignoring everyone suddenly, faced Axel again. His death glare back on tenfold. So much for being friends…

xXxXx

Sora had finally caught up with Kairi in the hallway. The two were walking pretty quickly to class as they were the last to leave, and the brunet was having a hard time avoiding people. He wasn't about to lose sight of his guide again, especially not after last time.

"Wait, slow down! What do you mean Selph likes Roxas?" he whispered quietly, but impatiently all the same.

The redhead turned around with a teasing grin that could almost be classified as a sort of Kairi-smirk.

"Exactly what I meant. Of course Roxas would never know because he's always ignoring her. But then again Selphie hasn't told me directly either. _But I could tell_ and…"

Sora was still confused, and it seemed like Kairi wasn't telling him everything.

"But she has a **boyfriend**! You said so!" he exclaimed.

"So?" asked Kairi innocently, facing him completely now.

The redhead had actually stopped walking now, even though they were only inches from their next class. She would later explain to him that Mr. Vincent was a strange teacher that didn't believe in attendance or sunlight, so coming in late was okay. But right now Kairi looked completely serious, hands on her hips, tilted head-the look and all.

"Sora, if you haven't noticed, _a lot_ of girls like your brother."

And of course this was shocking news to the brunet. Roxas-his own brother? A girl magnet? And yet no girlfriend? Where was this world coming to? But that would explain why all those girls were trying to hang out with him and all…

"And naturally Roxas just ignores all of them anyway so it was basically a lost cause an-" Kairi continued, not choosing to react to Sora's stunned state.

"What about you?" he interrupted.

Kairi stopped and stared at him. "What?"

"Do **you** like Roxas?" Sora hadn't asked it in the teasing manner Kairi had used at lunch, but out of pure curiosity. "You did say a lot of girls…"

"No!" exclaimed Kairi, blushing. That was probably the first time Sora saw the redhead not under control and embarrassed.

"Roxas is like…is like my best friend! I don't like him in any other way, seriously."

The brunet laughed. Even though the tone in his companion's voice was dead serious, he couldn't help but noticed that she was flustering over her words all the same. And she wouldn't make eye contact with him as she spoke. Maybe it would be fun to pester her a bit more?

"Oh _really?"_ commented Sora, crossing his arms and leaning forward so that their faces were only a few inches apart-forcing her to look at him. Kairi had stopped talking now but her blush was still there.

"Then why are ya still blushing Kairi?" he joked. The redhead opened her mouth to jump to her defenses, but Sora had already moved back and brushed past her towards the classroom.

"Just kidding Kai, it's a good thing you don't like Roxas. You're _way_ too nice for him."

Sora' back was turned so he was unable to see the blush spread as the redhead hid her smile. This twin was _definitely_ a nice change. Kairi moved forward as well to follow Sora into the classroom, and maybe think of something informative about English class she could say to cover up that moment. But a better distraction presented itself.

"Yo Roxas!"

Hands on the doorknob and head facing the classroom, Sora still hadn't gotten used to be called by his brother's name. So he turned the knob and was about to enter when a hand grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and threw him back.

"Hey! I'm talking to you here Roxas!"

Sora faced his attacker with wide eyes. Why was this _always_ happening to him? The boy was wearing a beanie, but the strands of hair sticking out were blond. There was also a scar running down along the side of his forehead across is face. Yup, this was what he called a bully at his school. Plenty of them there.

"Seifer leave him alone!" yelled Kairi, immediately standing next to them. Was it safe for a girl like her to be here?

"Shut up Kairi." Narrowed blue eyes looked into Sora's and the tone of voice used on him was mocking.

"What? Are you gonna let your girlfriend stand up for you again?"

Okay, this was the point in time that Sora stopped talking to think. This situation was slightly better than the last. For one, he had actually _recognized_ this person as **not** being Roxas' friend. Yes, this accomplishment made him happy.

He was also not alone this time, Kairi was here to run for help if he suddenly died…or something. And thanks to her he now knew the bully's name, and the guy didn't seem like he would figure _his_ identity out anytime soon. The disadvantage however, was that this Seifer person actually looked like he wanted to hurt him. And why the hell did he call Kairi his brother's girlfriend, and why was she blushing again?

AND WHAT DID SEIFER MEAN BY _AGAIN?_

Did his brother seriously let girls stand up for him?

The blond reached his hand out and knocked every book in Sora's grasp across the hall. Because throwing books around in a magnet school was _very_ bad ass.

Sora stared at the smirking teen. Not exactly sure what to make of it. At his school, this was usually the sign of a _start_ of a fight, but Seifer was looking like he had _already won_ it. Surely people here knew how to fight right?

With his mind settled on finding out, he crossed his arms and gave Seifer the fiercest look he could muster. Of course this only served to confuse the teen because it was very hard for Sora to look tough.

"What's your problem?" asked the brunet, an eyebrow raised. This might have been a bit more intimidating if he didn't have to look up to Seifer.

Sora saw the teen blink a few times. Not believing that Roxas was actually standing up for himself, against him! Seifer was going to straighten this boy out if it was the last thing he did. The blond opened his mouth to say something nasty and probably scare the guy away from a fight, but Sora beat him to it.

"What, you wanna fight?" Sora's gaze never wavered and he sounded pretty serious.

This just confused Seifer even more, this wasn't Roxas. _Who was this kid?_ Oh, well not that he cared. The senior's smirk grew wider. If it's a fight he wants, then a fight he gets. It had been a really long time since a kid had stayed and threw a few punches with him, ah the good old days.

"Now you're talking Roxy. And you better not call on your girl to help you when you loose a few teeth."

Sora felt Kairi's hand on his shoulder. Did she _always_ have to interfere?

"This is dangerous Sora! Seifer's a really good fighter." The brunet was touched by the deep concern in her voice, but there was no way he could back out now.

"Yeah, a good fighter at a _magnet_ school. I'm an average fighter at a _real_ school, and I bet I could still knock him out twice." Sora whispered back. Kairi seemed a bit offended by the magnet school comment, but hey-it was the truth.

She still looked worried and was about to say something when Seifer spoke first. The teen was not about to let some girl take away his first fight in a long time.

"Don't listen to your girlfriend. You gonna fight or not Roxas?"

The brunet stared at Seifer. "I was waiting for you to make the first move." He shot back.

Seifer just laughed in return. "Fine, but don't blame me if she gets hurt," he inclined his head towards Kairi, "just so long as she doesn't get in the way."

Oh, so Seifer was one of those guys that weren't afraid to hit girls? He quickly pushed Kairi away with an '_I'll be fine now leave me alone dammit!_' kind of comment (but not in those words exactly). And right after he did, a flash of white appeared by his side.

Sora barely had any time to react, lest jump out of the way as Seifer aimed a punch towards him but missed. The brunet had already moved out of the way by a long shot.

When he told Kairi he was an average fighter at his old school, he had been lying. Even against Axel's chakrams (which the redhead had stolen once from a thrift store) Sora could beat anyone in a fight. His agility, reaction speed, and the ridiculous air he could get when he jumped were unmatched.

So when Seifer turned away from the lockers, he spotted the brunet a few feet away charging at him. There was so much distance it was easy for the senior to dodge the punch. As Sora's fist brushed against his shoulder, Seifer quickly turned sideways and brought his knee up, where Sora's stomach would have been.

It was a second too late for Seifer to realize that it was exactly what Sora had planned all along. The brunet jumped to the side a good deal away to avoid Seifer's knee in advance. And as the senior's leg was still in the air, Sora made good use of Seifer's balance by kicking him in the chest before he could put it down and move out of the way.

What Sora hadn't planned was for Seifer to take the kick full on his chest without attempting to block it. Instead the blond had grabbed his leg in the process and brought Sora down with him. Before he landed, the brunet was thrown across the hall, he remembered feeling his shoulder connect with the floor first, and the sharp sting of a locker edge behind his back.

Wasting no time, he looked up again to find that Seifer was already up and heading back towards him again. One of the blond's hands was against his chest where Sora had kicked him, but other than that-it seemed like Sora's attack did very little to effect him.

Since his back was against a locker, the brunet would have no room to dodge Seifer's next attack unless he moved. His only choices were to either move forward or back up, the latter being the easiest since Seifer was coming at his side and if he could just get back on his knees and push off he could still get some distance between the two without taking his gaze off the blond.

And that was exactly what he was about to do until a familiar flash of silver caught his eye.

In the next second, the senior that was charging at him with a fist in the air was pulled back. The person holding Seifer back would have to be incredibly strong since the blond looked ready to murder right now. But Riku was holding him roughly on the shoulders an arm's length away-without even struggling.

Sora was unable to see the look on Riku's face since he was looking at the blond, but he could guess he must have been angry by the tone of his voice.

"How many times have I told you? No. Fighting. In. The. Hallway. Seifer."

Seifer seemed to be growling as Riku let go of him, pushing against his shoulders roughly to make sure the blond knew he was serious. Sora had sat up by now, leaning against the locker behind him and watching the scene unfold.

Riku had yet to look at him, instead he turned around and confronted Kairi.

"What the fuck happened here?"

The redhead was fuming again as she usually did when the silver haired boy was around.

"Nothing! Seifer was just trying to pick a fight with So-_Roxas_ and he accepted." Then to spite him, she added "Roxas totally had it under control until _you_ came."

"_NOTHING?_ That didn't look like nothing to me! And for your information, that idiot would have gotten his ass kicked if I hadn't showed up!" Yelled Riku.

All the brunet could do was stare at them.

This was the first time Sora had seen the two in the same place….and now he was starting to understand why. Those two just wouldn't stop shouting at each other! He found it quite amusing really. But from the corner of his eye Sora noticed Seifer looking at him, a bit suspiciously.

With a glance at Riku to make sure his attention was no longer on Seifer, the blond suddenly started to rush at Sora. Was this guy _crazy_? The fight was over! Sora quickly realized that he had to move and fast, but before he did he tried to catch Riku's eye again.

And it was only because he was looking at the silver haired boy's direction that Sora caught it. A leg extended and kicked Seifer in the stomach-as if Riku had predicted the move-at lightening speed. The blond had no warning or reaction time, even Kairi stopped mid-shout in the argument. Seifer ended up on the ground again and Riku glared at him.

"I SAID_ NO FIGHTING IN THE HALLWAYS_!"

Seifer glared back from his spot on the floor. "Then what the hell was that for!"

Riku ignored him and went back to his 'conversation' with Kairi. The redhead had her hands on her hip and a look that could make little boys cower in fear.

"You're such a hypocrite! Telling someone not to fight and then beating them up like that!"

"Oh shut up Kairi! If I wasn't part of the Student Government I wouldn't have even given a damn if either of them died!"

"Ha! I bet your fans were drunk when they voted for a leader like you!"

Now that neither of them were paying any attention to Seifer again, Sora was slightly worried that the senior would try to attack him again. And true to his thoughts, the blond that was now sitting up straight across the hall from him was glaring at him.

When he caught Sora's eye, Seifer held out both hands in front of him. One of them was curled into a fist and he began making gestures that made it clear he still wanted to beat the crap out of Sora.

Riku suddenly whipped around again after telling Kairi to go jump off a cliff and shouted at Seifer.

"DON'T _EVEN_ THINK ABOUT IT!"

The blond immediately stopped his silent death threats, and Sora wondered if Riku had eyes behind his head or something.

"What-are you _standing up_ for Roxas now Riku?" replied Kairi in angry tone. It was very different for Sora to see her this way. The redhead had been nothing but nice to him ever since he met her.

"I'm not standing up for anybody!" Exclaimed Riku, and then in a hushed tone so only Kairi could hear. "Especially not _Roxas."_

Riku smirked when he saw her eyes slightly widen. It was probably natural that something was going on that he didn't know. And he probably wasn't supposed to know it either, so rubbing it in the redhead's face was going to be pleasurable.

Of course he didn't want Seifer to know either…

"Seifer!" The blond jumped a bit from his spot on the ground and faced Riku.

"What? You better not be thinking about giving me detention pretty-boy. Roxas was the one that started the fight!"

The silver haired boy turned around as well, but his back was still towards Sora. " Leon's doing a presentation on _The Effect of the New Security System on the Hallow Bastion's Restoration Program _in room 121, it's starting in four minutes. I'll give you a hall pass for it if you leave and don't mention the fight."

Sora blinked and watched as Riku handed the senior a pass from his pocket. Was Riku helping him? Well he did kind of save him from a fight, and now maybe he was trying to help him stay out of trouble by silencing Seifer. Now that Sora thought about it, he was a much better helper than Kairi.

"Stop trying to bribe your way into things Riku! Roxas and I don't need your help!"

Sora sighed, _yeah way better._

"Stop calling him Roxas! I already know it's not him!" retorted the teen angrily.

"What are you talking about! Of course it's _Roxas!_ Who else could it-" Kairi sounded equally as mad, but with a hint of nervousness in her voice. The redhead flashed him a glance with a look that said _what did you tell him? _

Shit. He had been so distracted by the mob of girls everywhere that he forgot to tell Kairi that Riku knew about it. Not good! How was Kairi going to react when she found out it was _him_ that told Riku- not that he really had a choice anyway…

"Oh come on! I'd have to be blind, sick, and deaf not to see the difference!"

Riku suddenly pointed a finger at him, stopping Sora's train of thought. "There's no way that idiot can be Roxas! As if I need him to tell me who he really is, I figured it out all by myself!"

Sora's jaw fell as Riku's words hit him. The teen was making it sound like he just figured out Sora's identity now. Like the conversation between the two never happened. Was he covering up for him? Well it seemed to have worked because Kairi looked a bit more relieved.

Wait a minute…..did Riku just call him an idiot? Sora pouted.

"That _isn't_ Roxas!" cried Riku.

"Yes he _is!_" countered Kairi.

"No he's not!"

"YES HE IS!"

"NO HE'S _NOT!" _

Their voiced were getting pretty loud and Sora was surprised that none of the teachers had come out of the classroom to silence them yet. And maybe if Sora wasn't the cause of the argument, he might have found it pretty funny. Here was a girl and a guy with girly hair _fighting over him_….well not really but you get the point.

"Riku I think you've gone insane!" replied Kairi, a bit more confidence in her voice.

"Yeah, well I think I don't have time for this. Get to class, the both of you!"

And with that the silver haired boy walked away. Throughout the whole conversation he had never once looked or spoke to Sora. Not that there was really a reason to anyway. Besides, what could Sora say? He was still supposed to pretend he was Roxas and they were enemies….and…..well. He wasn't sure why but he was really hoping he would be able to talk to Riku again.

Kairi was suddenly in front of him with a hand stretched out. Her voice sounded exhausted and annoyed-though not at him, "Come on Sora, let's go."

He took it and allowed her to pull him into class late. The teacher hadn't minded much and the two took their 'usual' seats near the window. Kairi continued on like the run-in had never happened, and Sora was just glad that this was his last class for the day.

xXxXx

Larxene had told him to talk to the kid. He tried that, and Roxas had just glared back.

So Larxene told him to talk to the kid-_alone_. He couldn't because they _weren't alone! _

So Larxene had told him to shut up, and then she somehow set up a scenario where he was.

Axel sighed. Larxene could do the impossible sometimes, in the simplest ways. Demyx had left the group ten minutes ago to go find that damn Zexion. Afterwards, Larxene had stolen Marluxia's lunch and ran off with it. Yeah, that sounded really dumb and childish but it got the job done. Because now that left him and Roxas on the ground watching the two chase each other around the school's back lawn.

The blond stood up and stared until he saw the last of Marluxia's cloak disappear behind the school's side wall.

"Shouldn't we help them, or something?" he asked uninterestedly. No doubt with intentions of getting away from Axel.

"Nah, Marly can handle himself." Said Axel, standing up as well and leaning against a tree across from Roxas.

There was a moment of silence between the two as Larxene ran back towards them and Marluxia followed suit yelling a string of curses every step. Afterwards it was just pure silence between the two. Well, it was now or never…

Axel cleared his throat to get Roxas' attention.

The blond continued staring at anywhere but Axel.

So he tried again, "Um, Roxas?"

Another moment of silence, then an annoyed "What?"

Axel shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Sorry."

The word caught Roxas off guard. He turned around and fixed Axel with puzzled blue eyes. But his voice didn't sound any less harsh. "Excuse me?"

The pyro had no idea why he was still putting up with this. Had Roxas been any other kid he would have beaten the crap out of him already for that attitude. Seriously, it wasn't like Axel had done anything bad to the kid that day. In fact, compared to other days- Axel had been on his best behavior yet! Well, sort of.

"I said I was sorry." Repeated Axel.

Of course he probably didn't sound very sorry. He wasn't even sure what he was apologizing for, but if it got Roxas to stop shooting daggers at him then it was worth a try.

"For what?" asked the blond. And if Axel listened really hard, he could hear the curiosity in Roxas' voice overcome the brashness.

"For uh…being a….bad…influence…on your brother?" he tried. No seriously, what the hell was he apologizing for?

Roxas stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Whatever."

The reply made Axel frown. "Well, why else are you mad?"

"I'm not mad."

"Yes you are."

Silence. This was really starting to get to Axel. Usually the redhead would be talking nonstop. But Roxas seemed to have a weird silencing effect on him. Anything he said would always anger the blond and piss them both off, but on the other hand-Axel just couldn't deal with the silence. Time for a different approach.

"Wanna tell my why you don't like me?" asked Axel with a smile. At least one person could be in a good mood.

"Because you keep trying to get into my business." He shot back. _Yes a lead! _

"Well that's what friends d-"

"You're not my friend." He shot back. _Ouch, that hurt._

"I'd like to be." Axel countered.

Whoa, wait. Where did that come from? The redhead didn't remember thinking about that before at all. Since when had he decided that he _did_ want to be Roxas' friend? The kid was a total headache and a bundle of attitude. Plus they hadn't gotten along _at all_ the entire day.

Roxas didn't say anything afterwards. Instead he looked away and his posture stiffened. Axel wasn't sure how much more of this silence-stuff he could take.

"You know, you can't keep ignoring me like that."

"Watch me."

Axel smirked. _Kid, I've been watching you all day……._wait! No, bad! You're not supposed be checking people out when you're apologizing to them Axel! Okay, different strategy…If it's a fight Roxas wants, it's a fight Roxy gets!

"Do you ignore Sora too?" asked the redhead mockingly, he always seemed to get more of a reaction whenever Axel mentioned his brother.

"Of course not!" shot Roxas back defensively.

"Oh, is that why you know all about his school ditching and smoking escapades?" Yes, keep at it and you'll have the blond hating your guts in no time…But at least it'll keep him talking.

"It's not MY fault if he doesn't tell me!"

"Well maybe it's because you never told him you were a smoker as well."

That probably wasn't the best way to go about this. But at least Axel was winning the verbal battle this time. Roxas had visibly stiffened again and turned away. This was starting to annoy the pyro greatly.

"Why do you keep ignoring me?"

"Because you fucking piss me off!"

"Oh and does SORA piss you off too?" Axel angrily countered.

The redhead was starting to get pretty mad himself. Would someone please tell him what it was he did to make Roxas hate him so much? Shouldn't it be the other way around? The conversation was getting nowhere and it seemed like Roxas just ignored everyone equally. Everything about this kid was pissing _him_ off.

"Stop trying to get into our business!"

"Friends make it their business when their FRIENDS need help!"

Furious, that's what Axel was-completely furious. All he wanted was to get Roxas to stop being so mad at him, but at this point it looked like doing the opposite was going to be much easier. Plus it might make Axel feel better if Roxas felt as terrible as he did right now.

"SORA DOESN'T _NEED_ ANY HELP!"

"I WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU!"

"What the fuck are you talking about….?"

Axel sighed. Was it one of relief? Or one of exhaustion? Well, now he finally had Roxas' partially undivided attention. And maybe if he used it wisely he could explain to Roxas what a dickhead he was being. To Axel, and his brother. After all, Sora did asked him yesterday to try and get Roxas to open up to people a bit-he just never said how.

"You make it sound like you're the only person that understands Sora. Like you're the only one he can go to for help! Well that might be true for you because you might not have anyone to go to and talk to, but Sora has friends that understand him an-"

"You think you understand him?" Roxas had taken a few steps closer to Axel now. And although the two were only inches away it didn't stop them from shouting in each other's faces.

"You don't know _anything_Axel!"

"Well I just want to fucking hel-"

"SHUT UP!" Roxas exploded.

Maybe Axel had gone too far. Maybe if Axel knew, maybe if he just knew what he had gotten himself into. That he had ventured too far into something that was greater than the both of them.

Something Roxas had struggled to keep to himself for years, and now when he was _just_ starting to get the hang of it. _Just_ starting to be able to cope with it, to get rid of any emotions associated with it-Axel decides to appear in his life and threaten to tear his defenses apart.

"JUST SHUT UP! You think you might know Sora and you might be able to help him but that's it! _That's it!_ Don't start thinking you can UNDERSTAND me either! Because you don't know ANYTHING about me! Or my goddamn family! Or anything else for that matter!"

The redhead stayed silent the whole time, watching the boy in front of him continue to raise his voice, getting angrier and angrier by the minute. But all that rage only served to fuel Axel's as well. Somewhere along the lines, this conversation had made a turn for the worse.

"SO DON'T _EVER_ TRY AND UNDERSTAND ME AND JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

And with that Roxas turned around and stormed away. It never crossed either of their minds that they still had an hour of school left, or that Roxas could get into serious trouble if he left school grounds.

It didn't matter at all. And all Axel could do was just stand there, watching Roxas leave. Because what more could he do? Anything he said just made it worse, any apology he tried was in vain. For the second time that day he realized something.

Well, two things actually. One, Roxas was an asshole and there was something seriously wrong with him-and there was no doubt in hell the kid was hiding something that Axel was bound to find out. And two, he had totally fucked things up… again. Except this time, it might be permanent.

xXxXx

* * *

Thanks again **Hakumei Mikomi**! For enduring my grammar-full emails and doing a great job of beta-ing. Oh, and if anyone wants to read a cute Zemyx? Go to her profile….now if only she would update it!

But everyone, do thank her for beta-ing it for me. And guess what? After writing chapter four, I TOOK MY FINAL EXAMS! Lol, it's ironic how I wrote Axel's part with no intention of me repeating it, but that's exactly what I did when I started. Luckily that means my summer classes are over, so that means more time to write. Hurrah!

Hmm, this chapter _is_ very long, but for some reason I don't like it as much. Maybe it was because I was sick as I was writing it……..so my updating/replying will be pretty delayed as I will spend over half of everyday fast asleep and eating soup…mhhhh soup. XP But thank you all for reviewing!

REVIEW!


	6. Detention vs Counseling

YOU ALL GAVE UP ON ME DIDN'T YOU?!

**DIDN'T YOU!**

**-points finger accusingly- **

Well, if you did...then I don't blame you. -sheepish smile- This chapter took insanely long to write. And some of you were like "wtf?" to the last chapter so you're all probably exspecting something amazing to happen on this one right? Well the fact that I actually updated should be amazing so ha! HA! I UPDATED! WHEN ALL OF YOU PROBABLY GAVE UP HOPE ON ME!

Actually no. That was a lie. Most of you were kind enough to fill up my inbox with death threats to get me to update. And because of that I adore you all. Really I do. It means alot. And OMG OVER 40 REVIEWS for the last chapter made me die of happiness. Thank you reviewers. -hugs- And I replied to everyone like...6 months late. You probably forgot that you even sent one XD.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...nothing at all...except a lot of apologies to everyone who waited this long and stuck with me and wished me a 'get well soon'.**

**Claimer: **To **Hakumei Mikomi **for an Axel 'nurse edition' plushie, **blockofthewritingkind **for cookies and a get well present (I am better now thanks!), **summonerofthesilverwolf** for a cherry on top and AkuRoku sprinkles, **Revalations** for updating her RH fic and a Marluxia plushie along with a cookie,** black vapor **for a blue Freeze Pop for my ideas, and **bluemoonalchemist **for an emo Roxas stuffie.

And thank you **Lorien Moore **fore beta'ing. -insert more hearts here- SQUEE!

* * *

** Detention vs Counseling**

xXxXx

The first thing Sora noticed when he got home was a very grumpy Roxas. One that had just stormed down the stairs and into the kitchen, angrily opening the cupboards and then slamming them shut.

His older brother then emerged from the kitchen with a crumpled bag of chips in one hand and headed towards the couch. The blonde didn't even say a word or bother to acknowledge Sora's presence in the living room as he flopped down on the couch.

"Well, you're home early!" said Sora cheerfully.

Sometimes obliviously ignoring Roxas' mood swings – gosh, his brother could be so girly at times! - was better than dealing with it. So the brunette sat down next to his brother and turned the T.V. on.

Not that they really watched it, it was just to fill up the silence, although Roxas seemed to be doing that role right now as he angrily munched on his chips.

"So Roxas, did _you_…uh…_I_…get any homework today?"

The blond continued to ignore him as he devoured the chips. Sora stared at them. He wanted chips. No, wait. _Roxas first_. So ignoring the loud crunching and the smell of sour cream and onion in the air he began to prod Roxas with more questions. But that was _really_ hard because he _really_ wanted the chips and those were his favorite….

"Rox, how was school?" asked Sora.

"It was fine." The blond somehow managed to say through a mouthful.

"I see." Said Sora, still eyeing the chips. "Did Axel help you out?"

Roxas froze, like literal hand in bag and mid-chew. All because of _that _word. No not the help word, he heard that plenty of times. Like on those stupid info-commercials that recommended products that never work. It was _Axel._

Something about that kid bugged him, but he couldn't think of a reason quite yet. Other than the constant staring and the possibility that the guy had turned his little brother into a school skipping druggie bad boy-okay _that_ was probably a good reason to hate him for. Why hadn't he thought about that before?

Because he was too busy trying to hate Axel to actually come up with valid reasons, and if Roxas had voices in his head that spoke to him, they would be saying this: _Awww, all that guy ever tried to do was be your friend!_

Luckily he didn't have voices in his head like that. And besides, Sora had probably told Axel he'd give him a cookie if he befriended Roxas or something stupid like that. Seriously, Roxas couldn't see a reason why the redhead would ever want to befriend him. And vice versa, right? **RIGHT**?

"_Rooooooxas_?"

The blond looked up and met his brother's questioning eyes. The proper response would have been "No I hate him and he's a jerk." And then Sora would continue on smiling at the typical Roxas behavior, because that was practically Roxas' response to everything.

But this time it was different. This time he meant it right?

"Axel's okay."

Sora stared back shocked. "What?"

A chip was raised to the older boy's mouth and Roxas bit it and chewed slowly, he was trying to buy time before he put his words together-and he knew Sora wanted his chips. Ha! Like he was ever going to get them...

"I said he's okay. Because clearly Axel isn't the type to skip school right?"

Although Roxas was very talented at starting fights, he was also skilled at avoiding them - except for today where he had totally lost control - but that was a simple mistake because Axel was different, right?

The brunet was currently fidgeting in his seat. Realizing that Roxas had just put him in a very dangerous scenario. But then an idea stuck him. He could always play Roxas' game back at him!

"Yeah you're right." said Sora watching Roxas as he chose his next words carefully.

"And I was totally wrong about you not being social because you have _so _many friends at school."

Roxas caught the on emphasis on the word. So Sora didn't have such a great first day either? Well he certainly shouldn't have expected to.

"And your friends certainly don't cheat on tests." Roxas replied without any sarcasm.

Sora's face paled a bit at that part. Roxas had a thing against cheating and it was surprising how his brother was taking all this. But not for long!

"Yeah well, your friends were all really nice to me... like, uh … Kairi, and Yuffie, and, um ...Tifa... Aerith… Selphie..."

As an afterthought Sora added, "Who were also all **_girls_**…"

The older of the two stared back dumbstruck. Who the hell were all those people?

Well regardless of the fact that Sora had made more friends on his _first day_ than Roxas had that _entire _year...goddamn it.

"Um, right. And I'm sure your friends never go out and…."

And that's where he stopped. Get high? Was that what Roxas was about to say? And wasn't that the same thing he hadn't told Sora about? When his brother was living a different life at school, Roxas was doing just the same without either of them knowing? Wait...did that mean Axel was right?

Roxas was still sitting on the couch staring blankly at nowhere in particular when his brother called out his name. He still remained unmoving as Sora did it the second time and poked him-yes the thought that Axel may have been right about something really bothered him that much.

It wasn't until the sound of teeth crunching on something crisp was heard in the air when Roxas' attention was brought back to Sora. He also vaguely noticed his bag of chips was missing.

"Rox, you alright? You kinda zoned out there," said Sora after he swallowed.

And normally Roxas would have gotten annoyed that Sora kept stealing his stuff. Or he would just simply steal it back, but right now he was just...confused? No, he wasn't...was he?

Was it possible for someone to be confused over whether or not they were confused?

"I'm not going to school tomorrow," stated Roxas suddenly as he snapped out of his daze.

Blue eyes looked up in surprise at the retreating back of his brother. "But you love school!" cried Sora, noticing the slight twitch Roxas gave as the sentence rang in the room. God, his own brother thought he was a geek too?

The older of the two turned around slowly "But not _your _school," he corrected, "And I'm taking my uniform back."

Sora's mouth dropped. _No! Then he'd fail the rest of his exams!_ Not that Sora cared or anything! Because he wasn't that selfish…Okay maybe just a little- he really, really wanted to pass high school before the age of twenty if it wasn't too much to ask for.

"WHAT? But you have to go!" the brunet jumped off the couch and tried to cut his brother off before the stairs.

"NO!"

Roxas stopped at the bottom step as he realized what he just did. Yelling at Axel was okay because he was an asshole for reasons Roxas couldn't think of yet, but yelling at Sora was not cool. But upon a glance back, it revealed the other twin to be completely unfazed.

And because the day was just getting more and more complicated, Roxas decided to do something simple― like stating the obvious.

"I'm...going upstairs!" and with that he ran up the remaining steps.

xXxXx

It took five seconds for Sora to run into the kitchen, two seconds to locate the phone, another five seconds to carry the phone out of the kitchen because he hated that place, and a couple of minutes to find Axel's number.

(It should also be noted that it took Sora four seconds to pick up the receiver and feel guilty about it because he wasn't allowed to use the phone to call other people unless it was an emergency...and about half a second to get over that.)

The brunette sat completely still as he pressed the final number and a dull ring was now echoing out from the receiver.

He was just about to give up on the ninth ring when a clatter that resembled someone picking up a phone and then dropping it was heard.

After a few moments that Sora sat impatiently through, a voice presented itself. Sounding slightly distracted and with less enthusiasm than the speaker normally showed, it spoke:

"Hello?"

And with that Sora replied with his usually greeting.

"AXEL YOU IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME?"

xXxXx

The shout was lost to anyone upstairs since the only person that could hear it, had his head buried in a pillow at the time.

_Need... to... think... about... something else..._

Roxas rolled over and stared at the ceiling, folding his hands on top of his stomach.

What did he do the last time this happened? ...Wait, that wasn't a good thought. Okay time to think of something else, like instead of his day, how did Sora's day go?

_Right, like he could ask Sora now?_

Roxas sat up straight in his bed and stared at the door. He was about to go downstairs and ask Sora what the homework was (because he had a very one-tracked mind like that) when he heard voices.

_It actually sounded a lot more like Sora's voice... like Sora shouting... wait, was his brother talking to himself?_

Oh no, he was worried about this. He had read about how kids whose parents left them alone for long periods of time would sometimes go insane and talk to inanimate objects hoping to seek comfort.

But that seemed unlikely to happen to Sora. Letting curiosity get the better of him, the blond got off his bed and quietly moved outside his room. Walking down along the hall to the staircase he could hear indeed that Sora was talking, quiet loudly with someone.

He must be using the phone. But they weren't allowed to use it unless it was for emergencies, or when their dad called. (It was a stupid rule that Roxas made up to avoid talking to people in general).

However, the way Sora was yelling into the phone, Roxas highly doubted that it was their father they were talking to.

"What do you mean you guys got in a fight?!"

Roxas paused on the first step of the staircase. He felt like a spy, pressed against the wall―trying to eavesdrop on whoever Sora could possibly be talking to.

"And then you just let him walk away? Why didn't you say sorry?!"

_Sorry? For what?_

"Oh you did? ...Uh, then you should have said it again!"

_Wonder who he's talking to... I've never heard Sora yell at someone before._

"You did that too? ...Five times? Uh, well then..."

_Who is he talking about?_

"Wait, did you use an 'I message?' Ya know, those things they teach us in homeroom where it's like 'Roxas, I feel sad when you call me names and don't wanna be my friend' and stuff..."

The aforementioned blond nearly tripped as he lost footing on the stairs at the sound of his name. THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT ME?

"Oh don't worry about it. Those don't work for me either, but… I dunno... this is weird, Roxas and I used to be so close..."

Roxas slowly found himself sitting down on the stairs, the wall causing his shirt to rise up as he slid down with his back. He let his head fall back as he listened intently to the rest of the conversation he didn't want to hear.

"... Like I could tell him anything, and he would tell me everything! But now it's like we barely talk. And if it's something that happened, maybe something I did or something else that upset him - I mean, I wish he would just tell me!"

The worst part was that he wasn't even surprised.

Try as he might, Roxas was unable to evoke a feeling of shock or realization as the conversation progressed. But Sora had never told him anything, and every time his dad or that goddamn Axel brought it up he just ignored it. So why couldn't he feel surprised?

"I thought maybe...maybe switching places might work, you know? Maybe meeting new people would get him to open up a little more...I don't even know what got him to change in the first place. And I'm his twin brother!"

And here comes the part where Sora tells the listener how his dear old brother has no friends. How he has a doting girl following him everywhere as his closest companion. How his little brother on the other hand has plenty of friends who tried to be nice to him and he just shunned them away.

Because that's exactly what Roxas did. And that's exactly what Roxas didn't want to hear.

Not now, and not coming from his brother.

He didn't know how long he sat there, leaning against the wall slumped against the steps. Roxas couldn't bring himself to get up, so he just blocked out his brothers voice, until he heard:

"Okay, I gotta go."

Something in Roxas' mind told him to get up and get moving before Sora came up the stairs. But another part of him wanted to know whom Sora was talking to, whom Sora had told all his problems to instead of his older brother like he used to― because his older brother was the problem.

Would Roxas finally be able to confirm that his suspicions were right? And as much as he wished they weren't, he knew nothing could surprise him now. And in an ironic way that surprised him.

The answer was yes.

"Bye, Axel, thanks for listening."

xXxXx

After that, Sora placed the phone back he tiptoed quietly into his room. Hopefully his yelling hadn't attracted his brother's attention? Because if Roxas had and Sora was forced to lie again― well let's just say Sora wasn't much of a liar, as was proved by Riku.

But when the brunette rounded the stairs he found...

...nothing.

There was no body there. A sigh of relief escaped Sora, for some reason he had felt like someone was listening in to him throughout the entire phone conversation.

And when he climbed up the stairs he found nothing in the hallway. And nothing in his brother's room but Roxas lying on his bed. If his brother was asleep then Sora had nothing to worry about. A heavy sleeper like him would be dead to any noise.

And when he was awake he was dead to the world.

But that thought was quickly forgotten as Sora went back to his room, maybe to study for his final exams ― since it looked like he would be taking them now.

xXxXx

"Bye, Axel, thanks for listening."

Yup, it was definitely Axel.

Axel was ruining his life, and Axel was driving him crazy, and Axel wasn't even here.

But at least Roxas was starting to understand why.

"...thanks for listening."

Understand might not have been the right word. 'Admit' might be, because here was a perfectly good reason for Roxas to hate Axel and feel terrible about it, because it was his own fault.

Thanks. For. Listening.

Axel was there when Roxas wasn't.

Axel was the one that Sora proverbially ran to, the one that he confided in. The redhead was like a second older brother to Sora.

He didn't want to admit it at first. Because admitting he was wrong… would mean he was _wrong_. And if he was wrong, then that meant Axel was right. And if Axel was right then all of hell would freeze over and all the fangirls with their yaoi would reign instead. Even if none of them knew what the question was in the first place. But that's the beauty of 'theoretical or hypothetical or maybe it actually is a real question' questions.

But in the end it all came down to one thing: Axel was replacing him and Roxas was going to do something about it.

xXxXx

When Sora woke up he noticed two things.

One, he wasn't in his bed. And two, he had fallen asleep at his desk on top of his homework which meant… he had gotten **no** work done.

_Great_. Now he was definitely going to fail that exam.

The brunet sat up, pulling the sheets of paper stuck to his forehead away and straightening his back. He was still a bit sore from sleeping slumped over like that for the night.

He checked his watch- about half an hour left to get dressed and go to school and fail his exams. And that's exactly what Sora was about to do when something attacked him. It hit him right in the face, causing him to fall off his chair and land on the floor with a very loud thud. But what was louder was his scream

"Aaaaaaaaarggghfft!"

Minutes later Sora realized that the thing that 'attacked' him, was no longer 'attack'-ing him. He pulled the material off his face and noticed that it was considerably soft to the touch and resembled Roxas' uniform.

Blue eyes gazed toward the doorway, the direction that the clothes had come from, and saw a very confused looking Roxas. The boy had his arm stretched out in front of him, palm up in what looked like an underhand throw position.

But what was incredibly noticeable about him was the way his mouth kept twitching as he tried to register what was going on with a screaming Sora on the floor who incidentally had bad catching techniques.

"Ummm…" Sora looked at the uniform now held safely in his hands, then back at his brother in the doorway.

Roxas opened his mouth, and then closed it. "…."

The brunette was absolutely sure his brother had planned on giving him some sort of apology, or brotherly speech about how 'Sora could go to Roxas' school after all and he would be the good caring older brother who would still cheat for him.' But anything Roxas must have planned on telling Sora probably escaped his mind by now - at his little brother's failed attempt to easily catch the uniform thrown at him.

So Roxas ended up doing what he did best, backing out and stating the obvious.

"I'm going to school." And with that, the blond left in the general direction of the stairs, a confused expression still plastered on his face.

When he was gone, Sora looked back down to his hands with a smile. Well, that could have gone worst. And besides, he'd bet Roxas's apology speech was probably bad anyway.

xXxXx

Axel stared long and hard at the math problem in his workbook, placed on his lap. He tapped the pencil held between his fingers against his forehead. One, because on those rare occasions the repeated action helped him think, and two, because it was now helping him ignore Larxene's shrill questioning.

"What do you mean he isn't coming today?"

The redhead scribbled some illegible answer down. Axel had a theory that they couldn't mark him wrong if they couldn't read it.

Not giving up, Larxene continued her interrogation, but with a different approach. She uncrossed her arms and placed them on her hips, when she spoke her voice had picked up a lighter mocking tone.

"What exactly happened yesterday Axel? Did you scare little Roxem away?"

Green eyes never left the paper as he spoke, but the voice had picked up an irritable note.

"Okay, first of all. The kid's name is Roxas. Go memorize that. Second, he just hates me and that's that. I don't know why he ran off, he just likes running away from problems or something like that."

Speaking of problems, this one particular math equation was starting to bother him. Luckily, he was so absorbed in doing his overdue homework that he hadn't caught the smug look that appeared on Larxene's face.

But when Axel finally did look up, any trace of it was gone. The pyro also noticed that Demyx had already joined the group and was standing beside Larxene. Funny, why hadn't Axel noticed that sooner?

"Hey, Demyx… what's division?"

The musician brought his attention down to the ground where Axel was sitting. "Uh, I think it's when you take a really big number and then make it smaller."

A frown presented itself on Axel's face. "I thought that was subtraction?"

"Yeah, but division makes the number get smaller faster."

"So it's like subtraction on steroids?"

"Yes, like subtraction on steroids."

"Ah."

Larxene shook her head as Axel quickly grasped the concept of division, and made up answers that seemed reasonable for every question. "Okay, I'm done." And with that he stood up as well.

"Since when did 170 divided by 5 give you 2?"

Axel whirled around at the voice behind him. He was met with a short smirking blond kid that greatly resembled…

"Roxas?!"

The blond looked up because of the height difference, returning Axel's gaze of disbelief with a smug looking one. He replied nonchalantly, making it almost impossible to pick up on the air of humor in it. He was trying so hard to make this work; he just had to if he wanted to make it up to Sora, even if it meant getting along with Axel.

"Oh, good, you've memorized it." Roxas replied. The slight twitch Axel gave was almost worth it. _Almost_. Instead it was his ridiculous reaction that made Roxas stick with his plan.

Axel's jaw must have fallen all the way to the ground and one of his eyebrows reached his hairline as his mind processed all this. Did Roxas just make a joke? Like actually said something… that wasn't mean… but filled with humor?

Roxas using humor… humor being used by Roxas… was that even possible? ...Was the world ending now? ...Wait, did that mean he did his math homework for no reason?

Well that was certainly a drastic change from the angry, mean, anti-social, (Axel's list could go on…) Roxas he knew. Seriously, either Roxas was up to something or he was bi-polar. Although, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing was still yet to be determined.

The only female member of the group watched with mild amusement.

If this kept up without her interference, there would be a 97 percent chance that someone was going to say something stupid and mess up the temporary tranquility of the group.

Or that Axel was going to say something _smart _but make it _sound _stupid and screw everything up anyway.

And as much as she would have loved to step back and watch it happen, Larxene wasn't _that_ sadistic, so she broke the silence and spoke.

"Not that I care, but let's get to class."

xXxXx

8… 13… 29…

Sora frowned at the lock in his hand. He had been trying to get his locker open for the past ten minutes. Unfortunately, he hadn't planned on going to school today after yesterday's incident. And although he was thrilled Roxas had actually agreed to keep the switch-up-in his own Roxas sort of way― Sora wished he had at least remembered to bring his right stuff. Including his combination paper.

Maybe the last number was 28?

The brunette was so concentrated on getting his locker open, that he hadn't realized he had spoken the words out loud until someone replied to them.

"Actually it's 24. But you're still pretty close."

The voice had completely caught him off guard. Maybe it was because he was up late last night attempting to study, or because he was still amazed Roxas had bothered to talk to him that morning, or maybe it was because he was absolutely sure the last number was indeed 28.

But whatever the reason, none of them could justify the loud shout of surprise he gave as he jumped about a foot into the air. He whirled around to find the identity of the person behind him, relief flooding through Sora.

"Kairi!"

The redhead smiled and she tilted her head in a teasing matter. "You're awfully jumpy this morning. Did someone figure out your identity already?"

A sheepish smile was her response as Sora lifted a hand behind his head. "No, actually…"

He paused in his wording. He couldn't exactly tell Kairi about how his brother nearly killed him this morning by throwing his uniform when his guard was down. Then she would think he was a totally idiot, if she hadn't figured that out already.

"I… kinda got in a fight with Roxas yesterday."

Concern flooded Kairi's eyes. "What happened?"

"Um, I'm not really sure. I think he just had a bad time at my school." Sora literally had to do the tongue-in-check maneuver as he lied. The brunette was positive Roxas had an awful experience at Destiny High. Even Axel had seemed apologetic on the phone, something that never happened before.

"But I think its okay now. 'Cause, I'm still here and Roxas seems fine about going to my school this morning," finished Sora.

Kairi smiled. "Well, that's good."

The lock finally opened with a click as Sora tugged on it. Well, it was 24 after all… With a cry of triumph, the brunette bent down to retrieve his books. When he had turned around again, his arms were filled with binders that Kairi noticed he didn't even need. But she kept that to herself with a smile, no need to lower Sora's self esteem.

"Uh hey..." started Sora staring at someone behind Kairi. "There's that... Selphie girl again."

The redhead's eyes suddenly widen and her voice dropped down low. "Don't make eye contact."

Sora immediately stopped and turned towards Kairi. Whoa, did he miss something?

"And don't wave at her either!" she cried, pushing Sora's raising hand down. When the brunet shot her a questioning look, she explained.

"Roxas doesn't even know Selphie _exists_. So act like you don't know her." said Kairi with an apologetic smile.

Oh shit. Roxas. He was totally messing up Roxas' image! Urgh, how stupid of him. His brother would never go around waving and acting all friendly with others like normal kids...and here he though Kairi was just being jealous, heh.

"Damn, she already saw you." And before Sora could even ponder this new side of Kairi, he was already being pushed away. "Don't worry, I'll handle this." And with a final smile, Kairi had shoved him away.

And right into Yuffie.

"NINJA-AMBUSHED! MANEUVER ATTACK NUMBER SEV-! Oh, wait, it's just you So..._Sooooxas_...uh...Roxas. Yeah let's go with that."

Sora muttered an apology and glanced over his shoulder at Kairi and Selphie. The girl from yesterday's lunch group was now scanning the crowds of students, probably looking for him. Crap.

"KAIRI, HIYA!" exclaimed the hyperactive girl. Kairi silently braced herself as Selphie attacked her. "Hey! Wasn'tRoxashere? Whyisn'thehereanymore? Wheredidhego? Wheredidhego?"

The brown haired girl looked around in every direction as Kairi frantically tried to distracted her. "Oh, it was...just your imagination Selphie! He's not here. You must be high on sugar again silly."

From a few feet away, Sora poked his head out from behind Yuffie-who was now Sora's self-proclaimed ninja shield. It was weird, seeing the quiet girl from yesterday acting all bouncy now, and he thought she was shy!

"Hmm, Kairi's acting kinda weird today..." murmured Yuffie to herself.

"What?" asked Sora, he had barely picked it up.

"Nothing." said Yuffie, smiling and turning around so her back was still shielding Sora.

"You probably don't know this, but Kairi can get pretty defensive sometimes when people try to steal her friends." Sora was only listening to Yuffie half-heartedly as his attention was still on the scene before them. "It's not her fault or anything, but don't let her boss you around either."

At that Sora raised an eyebrow but didn't question it any further. He tried to glance over the ninja's shoulder but was blocked again. "And Selphie, is she always...?"

"That pycho?" asked Yuffie. The brunet may have not used that choice of word to describe the hyped girl, but that worked too. "Yeah, she's always sugar high. Drives her boyfriend crazy."

Sora was always a bit put off by how Yuffie could be so bluntly honest.

"Except she's always quiet around your brother though, cause she liiiiiiiiiikes him."

Really, really goddamn honest.

Sora was about to just leave the conversation at that. Talking to the girl was exhausting. But a sudden thought occurred to him. Maybe he could used Yuffie's small attention span and her blunt honesty to his advantage... but he was going to have to be sneaky about it. Mwhahaha, manipulative Sora time... erm. Wait, he didn't just think that aloud.

"So, do a lot of girls like Roxas?"

"You bet! He's quiet... anti-social... a loner. He's like a mini less hot version of my Squally!"

The brunette paused a bit to ponder that comparison. It kinda made his head dizzy so he pressed on. "And, does he like any of the girls back?"

Yuffie was still watching Kairi successfully distracting Selphie. "Not that I know of."

Sora took note of this. If acted now, he could use Yuffie's own distracted state in his plan! "What about guys?"

At that Yuffie turned around, looking Sora square in the eyes with a semi-serious look on her face. "What about them?"

Sora looked a bit distaught at this. Whoops, should have been subtler. But then again... what was he really asking Yuffie here― was he really suspecting that his brother was gay? Was he really going to admit that his brother was hiding something from him?

"Well, uh... do any of the guys... does Roxas... _is _Roxas... uh..."

And maybe he could have finished his sentence right then and there and gotten it over with. And maybe Yuffie would have answer it to with a "Duh he's queer, can't you see all the girls flocking towards him?!" or a "No he's not gay just because he still hasn't hit puberty and thinks all girls are icky." But at the last minute, something caught his eye.

A flash of silver, actually. Like you know those flashes that happen in romance novels and teen soap operas that totally distract the main character and puts them back on track with the plot? Yeah, this was one of _those_ flashes. Damn those flashes of silver!

They were really distracting, and Sora subconsciously moved his ingenious "_Is my brother a queer?_" plan to the back of his head. That could wait. He needed to know more about Riku first and why his twin hated him so much, and what kind of shampoo he used to make his hair flow like that.

"So uh, Yuffie... what's the deal between Riku and Roxas?" asked Sora, his eyes following the senior as he moved across the hall. For some reason he was really hoping Riku would stare back. Just glance his way and acknowledge his exist or something. Anything!

Sora couldn't see it, but the seriousness on Yuffie's face was immediately replaced with amusement. Has Sora taken an interest to his twin's archrival? Could the Great-Ninja-Yuffie use this to her advantage? Oh, yes, she could.

The ninja chose her next words carefully. "Didja know they used to be best friends?"

Blue eyes were widened as Sora whipped his head around to gawk at Yuffie. "WHAT?!"

Okay, maybe her words weren't exactly... the best choice. But it got the reaction she wanted nevertheless.

"Yup." She continued, a twinkle in her eye. "They used to be real close friends and all. But then something happened and now they barely talk. And when they do it's just quarreling."

"What happened?" asked Sora, his eyes were once again trained on Riku. The silver-haired boy was making his way towards the group - they were standing next to the English classroom's entrance. Hurrah for convenient positioning!

"Dunno." Replied Yuffie trying to conceal the excitement in her voice. "They just...stopped hanging out. I think that was around the time Kairi transferred here."

Sora's eyes widened again as the information processed through his mind. "Kairi, huh?"

Oh, something was up, alright. Something between Sora and the other boy, Yuffie just knew it! She had suspected it the moment Sora had asked about his brother's sexuality ― it was quite obvious. And now Kairi was too busy to stop her! Here was her chance to wreak some organized chaos...

"Yes Sora?"

The two of them turned around to seek Kairi. Standing there without Selphie and looking at Sora with a smile.

Shit...Yuffie hadn't acted fast enough. The ninja was about to turn around and head into their English class, defeated, when the same flash of silver appeared in front of her. Geez, she briefly wondered how Riku could walk around school without having mobs of shampoo commercial workers ambushing him.

Riku headed into class, without sparing anyone in the group a look. From her right she could see Sora's face fall, only adding more to her motivation. And guess who was behind Sora? Seifer, of course!

What happened next could only be described simply as this: Kairi conveniently looked the other way, Yuffie attack Seifer, and blamed it on Sora. Oh the mayhem.

xXxXx

Meanwhile...students at Destiny High were having their own disaster.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD IT'S RAINING INSIDE THE SCHOOL!"

Yes, that kind of disaster. Larxene had seen the look of loathing on Roxas' face as they entered the school. She had seen the way he tried to hide it by being friendly with Axel. And then she had seen the way Axel had been trailing awkwardly after him. She had seen it all.

"Whoa, shit. Sorry Larxene!" cried Demyx as he slipped on the wet floors of the hall way, promptly crashing into her.

Okay, so she hadn't seen _that_.

But besides all of this, you're probably wondering what happened right? Well it was all elementary, my dear... nobody. Roxas was up to something. Larxene was so sure of it! And it was up to her to make sure that whatever it was that was destined to happen... happened. And what better way to get Axel and Roxas together, than this!

"Larx, if I were you I'd hide that dagger." said Marluxia, helping her off the ground. She did so.

A few feet away Roxas was standing under the fire sprinklers staring at the pyro's misfortune. "No Axel, water isn't going to kill you. And if it _does_ than it's not my problem."

Axel could only stare back at Roxas' coldness. Didn't he understand what water did to a pyro?! He was practically melting! MELTING!

But instead of saying anything about his current state of matter, Axel whimpered.

The blonde looked slightly taken back. No! His plan was to corner Axel and tell him to stay the hell away from his brother! That his family was none of his business and Roxas was Sora's older brother, not him! But then some idiot had to hit the sprinklers and cause the school to go into a state of panic during the fire drill. And school just started a few minutes ago, too...

"Well," Roxas started unsurely, his friendly facade now dead.

Axel did kind of look...pitiful. Underneath all the pouring water droplets with his spiked red hair starting to droop and his black band shirt clinging to his skinny form as he wrapped his arms around his body― trying to shield himself from the water that was everywhere. It was really cold and Roxas found he was hugging himself to stay warm as well. But Axel was shivering and he seemed to be shaking violently for different reasons.

And in case if you were wondering, Roxas was not checking Axel out. He was merely observing that Axel indeed looked different when he was wet.

"S-shit. For once, I didn't st-start the fire this time!" said Axel between deep breaths as his teeth clattered.

Roxas almost felt sorry for him. _Almost._ He could still hate him and feel bad for him at the same time, right?

And if people weren't running around and slipping in the hallways as water rained down on them from the ceiling, they would have stopped and noticed the scene before them. With the group of trouble-maker-kids standing next to the fire alarm lever with a dagger wedged in deep. It was quite obvious who had started the sprinklers to come on during the drill. And for once it _really_ wasn't Axel.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU SHIT HEADS STARTED THIS?!" cried a blue-haired man.

Roxas stopped glaring at the soaking wet Axel that had started to hyperventilate, and noticed the angered teacher in front of them. Had Roxas been a regular student he would have immediately recognized the man as the vice principal and backed away slowly like the rest. Instead he just noticed that the man had strange pointy ears and a scar in the shaped of an X on his face. Wow, those pointy ears were distracting...perhaps he was an elf in his past life.

Larxene quickly threw a dagger at Axel, blunt side first as to not hurt the teen.

"Ow!"

The cry of pain directed the man's attention at Axel as he growled out his name.

"Axel. I should have known, you're in for it now punk."

The redhead's eyes widen as he spluttered. "W-what?! That's crazy Mr. Sa-saix! I hate w-water! Why would I-" but he was interrupted halfway. It was known throughout the whole school that the vice principal had wanted to expel Axel ever since freshmen year.

Saix's orange eyes peered menacingly at Roxas.

"Alright, then. Maybe it was your pathetic partner in crime." At this Roxas had to suppress a sneer. He was not Axel's partner in _anything, _and he was damned if he let the pyro continue influencing his little brother.

xXxXx

It was a quick ninja-star thrown at the back of Seifer's head, causing his beanie to fly forward. The beanie-crime alone was enough to anger to Seifer, but when the blond boy turned around to see Yuffie jumping up and down and pointing at Sora frantically, it put his anger on a whole new level.

"You _punk_! I told you not to mess with me!"

A fist was making its way fast at Sora's head. "Wait, what are you talking about?! I didn-"

"Yes he did! Yes he did! It was totally him! You can trust a ninja."

"Yuffie, what's going― SORA!"

xXxXx

Axel found himself self-consciously moving in front of Roxas. Shit, if the vice principal was staring at the blonde any longer he might be able to recognize that it _wasn't_ Sora. And then they'd _really_ be in trouble.

"No, s-sir, it was me," muttered Axel through clenched teeth.

Today was not his day. He didn't start the damn fire drill. He didn't even start a damn fire in general! Not that he was planning to, of course. And here he was practically shielding the kid that hated his guts. He owned the blonde no favors, but if he didn't protect him from Saix, Sora was likely to get in trouble as well. And he was doing this for Sora, not Roxas.

Saix glared at Axel, but with a slight smirk this time. The redhead flinched... not to mention Axel didn't really want Roxas to go through a detention with the vice principal. Yes the kid had a stick up his ass, but no one deserved an angry Saix.

"Alright... detention for you mister Axel." And Axel could have sworn that Saix was dancing inside.

"Wait!" cried Larxene. She grabbed Roxas from behind Axel (ha, her plan was already working) and shoved him in front as well. "He helped! I saw him do it, Saix!"

If it wasn't for the water falling everywhere blocking his vision, Roxas might have seen the evil smile on Larxene's face. "W-what?!" He exclaimed, but to no avail since he was already standing in clear sight of the authoritative figure.

The vice principal's smirk got wider. "Perfect. Detention for both of you... Axel and Sora."

Larxene inwardly cheered. Yes, operation 'get Axel over Demyx so they could be a happy family again' was working!

Saix then turned around to her. Whist he hated Axel for his misdoing, he admired Larxene for her sadist nature...she would make a good pupil one day.

"Good job, miss La-" Saix was immediately cut off as Demyx, who was dancing underneath the water sprinklers singing "DANCE, WATER DANCE!" bumped into him, almost causing the blue-haired man to stumble.

"And detention for you too, DEMYX!" he screamed.

Demyx stared back as he stopped dancing.

Larxene restrained herself from killing Demyx who had just COMPLETELY ruined the plan... oh well. This could be interesting.

And all Roxas could do was glare at Axel. He had never been in detention before. _Ever._

"I hate you."

xXxXx

"Well, I never asked you to save me!" cried Sora.

He knew he sounded pouty, and he knew it was a ridiculous excuse, but he couldn't think of anything else. He had also expected Yuffie to fully blame him for attacking Seifer when the teachers came. He had even expected for Seifer to pack a punch back. What he _hadn't _expected though was for Riku to come and save him... again.

The silver-haired teen turned his head around to glare at Sora. The two had been dragged to the counselor's office after Yuffie switched the blame onto Riku as well. And what happened to Seifer? He got sent to the nurse for the rest of the day― free of all classes. Life wasn't fair...

Sora shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Riku's glare intensified. He briefly wondered how much longer they were going to have to wait in the office before the counselor came. He just hoped he wasn't like Saix back at his school.

That vice principal would destroy anyone in his path. Roxas wouldn't stand a chance. Luckily he told Axel not to do anything stupid like start a fire that would get them sent to detention… he just hoped the pyro would listen.

"I still hate you," grumbled Riku, crossing his arms and moving his gaze to the opposite direction of Sora.

Sora opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it when he realized there was no reply to that. He crossed his arms and legs as well, turning to the side to stare at the opposite wall.

Well... it could have been worse.

And from Sora's blind side, Riku chanced a glance back. All the while wondering why he had indeed pulled Seifer off of Sora… and then proceeded to beat the shit out of him. That was completely unlike himself. And it had happened so fast. He sighed.

Sora caught it and turned around. But when he did, the aquamarine eyes were already facing the other way, boring a hole into the plain white wall of the counselor office they would be staying in – for the rest of the day.

* * *

**Indigo:** Wow, I got some _plot_ done. I'm so proud of myself XD. And the set up! They will be **alone** in a room **together. **So you KNOW some AxelxRoxas and RikuxSora fluff will be happening...AND YESH ZEXION NEXT CHAPTER! I SWEAR! With Zemyx love on top. Oh, and **Saxor **I'll answer your question later in the story cause it's like...plot XD. 

And from when I was sick, **Hakumei Mikomi **suggested the idea of a "Nurse Axel" in a review which was read by **black vapor** who told this idea to her friend **-Roxas.no.13-** who drew a picture of our beloved Axel in a nurse outfit which can be found on her site here: http://www(dot)sheezyart(dot)com/view/1090925/

And oh yeah, if the idea of Axel in a nurse outfit pleases you, then **Ankaris123** has a one-shot called _Teh Horrooorrr. _IT HAS AXEL IN A SKIRT! Which was a one-shot, but then I pestered her and she added another chapter. And I wouldn't do that unless I really liked it. So go read it...now.

And And And, I have written another akuroku! Called _Attention Attention_, so read it, review it, and I'll love you forever. No really, read it!

Wow, I feel like a billboard. (To place an ad here...jkjk XD.) But um, if you're this far, thanks for reading _Switch It Up _and all my rants. **Lorien Moore, **thanks again for beta'ing!**  
**

REVIEW!


	7. Survive Detention vs Escape Counseling

I haven't written anything for this for **five** **months.** Did anyone miss me:D

This chapter is unbeta'd because I sent the first half and never got anything back. -sniff- I wish I could go on vacation, too.

Wow, has it really been a whole year!? I should say something profound now. Like 'goddamn, how do I get ffnet to get rid of the chapter title at the top as a pre-setting?'….instead I'll leave you with a preview from **Shiguna**'s review which may or may not refresh your memory from the five months absence.

_"Will Roxas survive an entire day ALONE with Axel and his silly-billy ninnyhammer friend, Demyx?  
__Will Riku realize his deep desire for his worst enemy's twin brother?  
__Will Yuffie and Larxene cross paths and create a whole new spicy lesbian-pairing full of devious plans and sadistic natures!?"  
_-**Shiguna**, thank you darling.

**Disclaimer:** Over 180 **reviews**, 128 **favs**, 182 **alerts**, and 16,407 **hits**. But still no rights to Kingdom Hearts. (**Btw. You guys either rock too much, or you need to find better crap than this to read. XD**)

**Claimer:** I received a giant Hershey's Kiss and a lantern from **Myde-and-Mar**,achocolate parfait from **Darkspider**, a helluva lot of muffins from **Ariaana**, hearts and candy from **peachtarts**, Axel plushies from **A Lonely Kitsune,**…and a spatula which **Hikari Aiyano **threatened to beat me with if I didn't update. And various other threats from random people…thanks?

* * *

**Surviving Detention vs. Escaping Counseling**

xXxXx

"I hate you."

"We've established that..."

"I hate you _more _now."

"You told me that yesterday..."

"I hate you more than I did yesterd-"

"QUIET!" Demyx slid the headphone off his left ear, glaring at the two students sitting next to him. "I can't believe you guys got me into detention. _Detention_. With _SAIX!_ Did you know before he was vice principal, that man used to be a **prison guard!?"**

Roxas' face grew deathly pale. No he did not know that. His dearly beloved brother Sora had conveniently forgotten to mention that all his teachers and administrators were maniacs. Insane blood-thirsty maniacs...

"None of us can escape now! And what's worse, I heard he tortured his prisoners with glow sticks!" At this point, Demyx had lowered his voice so none of the other occupants in the room could hear them.

"Demyx, it's really not that bad-" Started Axel, but was once again silenced by the blond's ramblings.

Axel was completely ignored as Demyx started to go on about the vice principal's unofficial obsession with the moon.

So he opted to tune out Demyx and pay attention to the suddenly very quiet blond that was now gripping the desk in front of him for dear life. Axel placed a hand on his shoulder and after a moment of relief had passed when Roxas didn't shout or hit him, Axel attempted to get him out of his catatonic state.

"...Roxas?"

"I hate you." Came the automatic response.

Axel shrugged. His shins were still intact so that meant he should keep talking.

"It's not that bad, honest." When Roxas remained quiet and merely stared ahead of him, an ounce of worry started to form in the redhead's conscience and Axel leaned closer.

"Demyx is just exaggerating. This is actually his first time in detention too."

Roxas turned around slowly to face him and spoke softly. "How many times have you been in detention before?"

With a hint of surprise, Axel noticed now that the blond had lowered his defenses, he was able to learn two very important things that would prove useful to his life if he remembered them.

First, a good way to get Roxas to talk to him was to get the kid absolutely terrified. - Axel made a mental note to figure out what else Roxas was scared of rather than Saix. Like spiders. Because spiders were icky.

The second thing he learned was that the blond was immensely attractive when he wasn't glaring at him. It gave Axel a clear view of those amazing blue eyes of his. And don't tell anyone, but when no one else was looking Axel liked to stare at Roxas and pretend that his eyes were the ocean.

A very deep and sensual ocean that Axel could get lost in. Except Axel hated water and he couldn't swim, so he liked to pretend that there was a boat there waiting for him as well. And if Roxas hadn't looked away or blinked at this point, he would also sometimes imagined that the room's florescent lights reflected in those eyes were happy seagulls that liked to play with Axel on his little boat. But these were special seagulls that were uncommonly nice, not the vicious ones that attacked you on the beach.

He knew this was probably really creepy and beyond stalker fandom, but he just couldn't look away.

Especially when they were widen in fear like that...Axel definitely needed to get this kid scared more often. And maybe take up sailing. All this imagining crap must have been unhealthy.

"Maybe twice a week." Axel gave another shrug as he replied. He was trying to keep his school record a bit more clean this year.

"And how many times has Sora been in detention?"

"Same thi-er...what now?"

The third thing Axel learned was that Roxas was a sneaky _sneaky_ bastard. Axel gave a nervous smile as he subtly backed away from the blond. But it was too late. Roxas had already heard him and now his eyes were narrowed angrily. An angry Roxas was not a good thing.

At times like these, Axel still liked to stare into Roxas' eyes. Except now the ocean was a bit more undulating and the skies had turned gray and cloudy as a storm mirroring Roxas' temper formed. Axel imagined that his little boat had capsized in the waves pitifully. Maybe being a sailor wasn't that fun...he should be a poet instead or-

"STOP **STARING** AT ME LIKE THAT, YOU FREAK!"

Axel flinched. "Sorry."

xXxXx

"So this is detention?"

"This is counseling." Shot Riku back immediately. "We don't have detention here, it's called _counseling._ That's because here at Oblivion High we don't have delinquents. That's because Student Government Officials like_ me_ keep everything under control. And that's why I shouldn't be _here_!"

Sora resisted the urge to cower as the silver haired boy began his monologue.

"_I_ keep this school safe! _I'm _the one that puts people in the office. _I_ can't get sent to the office. Who does _Diz_ think he is?!" Riku raked a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated noise.

"And you!" Sora's head jerked up so fast he was afraid he might have gotten whiplash. The senior was standing in front of him, one hand on his hip, the other pointing accusingly at him. "You're the reason I'm _here_!"

The other boy had said it with such venom that Sora could only manage a whisper. "I'm sorry..."

"Do you know how this is going to look on my record?!" Riku continued on, completely ignoring him.

It was a hypothetical questions but Sora shook his head anyway. Of course Riku hadn't seen the action since he wasn't expecting a response and had his back turned. Both hands gripped his silver hair tightly, letting out another angry sigh.

"Goddamn it! And I was trying to save you. I should be getting an award for this, not punishment..."

Riku started to trail off when he suddenly heard a sniff. His shoulders tightened as he tensely looked behind him, afraid of what he might find.

"Are you...are you crying?"

The younger boy looked completely vulnerable in the position he was forced into. His obnoxious yellow shoes were resting on the edge of his chair as he brought his legs up against his chest. His arms wrapped around them with his head buried on top of his knees.

"_N-No_..." If the cracking in his voice didn't give his lie away, it was the way his shoulders shook as he gave another sniffle.

"Fuck..." Riku slapped his forehead forcefully. He had tried to play hero and save the kid, and all he achieved was getting the both of them in trouble and making the boy cry. He didn't even know why the guy was crying?! So he decided to gently ask him, as to not startle him.

"Why the hell are you _crying_?!"

The brunet lifted his head and choked back, "I said I'm _not_ crying!"

Riku should have pointed out the evidence all over his cheeks...But all Riku could think about was how much he looked like Roxas at that moment. It didn't take very much for this kid to start crying, but it didn't change the fact that they both looked the same when their defenses broke down.

He had the same exact pout, the same eyes - and yet he seemed so much more sincere.

Without thinking, Riku immediately sat back down next to him and pulled the boy into an embrace. He prepared himself for the punch that Sora was bound to hit, and maybe for the verbal assault for touching him - but nothing happened. Instead, Riku was surprised to find that the boy was actually leaning into his hold.

Fuck, he was going to have to comfort the kid wasn't he?

"Uh..." Riku was not prepared for this.

Ever since that one time in the park where he tried to comfort a little girl but ended up making her cry even more. Then when the mother came he somehow made her cry too...Riku learned that he had absolutely no people skills that day.

He awkwardly patted the other boy on the back. "What's...wrong?"

Riku mentally slapped himself when all he got was an unintelligent reply from his torso region. Most people would be ecstatic that he, the great almighty and fashionable Riku, was touching them. Nevertheless giving a damn about them. Which he didn't. Because that's just who he was...but that didn't stop people from pretending.

And he sincerely hoped that the boy wasn't getting any ideas. He was only trying to comfort him because he couldn't stand seeing people cry. It was just something he had grown to hate after witnessing his mother cry so many times from his childhood.

"Could you...please...stop crying?" He tried again.

Riku sighed as his hand began moving of its own accord and he found it buried in Sora's hair. It seemed to calm the boy down when he untangled the soft brown locks with his fingers. His mind subconsciously remembering it from somewhere.

After a moment of silence, while Riku realized that the action was starting to relax him as well, he heard another mumbled reply.

"What?" He asked.

Sora lifted his head, fervently brushing away the stray tears. From the moment that Riku had started yelling at him, he began wishing that Roxas was there to protect him. Until he remembered that his brother would probably be angry at him for everything he had done that morning.

Roxas reputation was going to be ruined if he stayed in that office. He couldn't let his brother get suspended for a fight that wasn't even his fault. Not after his brother had worked so hard to get into Oblivion High.

"I said I'm sorry..." Sora whispered.

"What the hell for?" At the blunt question, Sora looked up to find the senior staring at him curiously. Then he looked down again and noticed the wet stains on the other boy's shirt.

"Well, I kinda got your shirt wet...and I'm really sorry for crying on you! And I'm sorry for lying about not crying even though I kinda was - so I guess I'm sorry for being a bad liar. And I'm sorry for getting you in trouble and mad at me and-"

"Wait." Riku waved a hand dismissively in the air to get the other boy to stop.

Now that Sora wasn't longer tearing up anymore, Riku was able to think clearly again - and now he realized just how close they really were.

"Er…You said I was mad at you?"

When all he got was a blink in return, Riku decided that he would never attempt to comfort another person ever again. With a sigh he replied "I'm not mad at you - if that's what you thought."

"But you were yelling at me..."

"I yell a lot. At everyone, not just you."

"But you said it was my fault..."

"It's everyone's fault. Not just yours."

Another mental slap resounded in Riku's brain. That didn't come out right. He meant that it was Seifer's fault for picking another fight. Kairi's fault for not watching after the kid - because he figured that must have been their relationship after yesterday. And it was the administrators fault for...administrating..._badly_.

And he somehow had a hunch that it was Yuffie's fault as well. Goddamn, he hated ninjas.

And then. And then. And then..._that_ had to happen.

What it was _physically_, was easy for Riku to describe. A simple downward quirk of the side of the lips. The jutting out of the lower facial muscle. And eyes that, Riku had to admit were quite remarkable to begin with, seemed to sparkle as they utterly demolished Riku's fleeting sanity…

"WHAT NOW?!"

Sora flinched and his lip began to quiver.

Riku let out an irritable groan, both hands tearing at his really pretty hair. "Okay fine. I was _mad_ at you happy now?"

Sora blinked. "...You still sound mad."

"Okay fine. I'm _still_ mad at you."

"..."

"But when I'm mad, I say weird things. So...don't pay attention to me or anything I say."

The senior collapsed unceremoniously into the seat next to Sora, completely exhausted from trying to comfort him. Why was it that no matter what he did, he always made people cry?!

"And...I'm sorry for yelling at you. That was uncalled for. I'm just really angry that I got sent to the office because I could lose my position in the Student Government, which is exactly what Diz wants because he's a bastard..."

Riku lowered his head, staring at the ground as he rubbed his temples in an attempt to forget the situation at hand. But it was really hard when _someone_ kept trying to remind him.

"Why does Diz want that?" The reply was soft and timid.

Riku figured he must have really scared the kid if he was being this shy. The older boy could recall - with a mind-burning memory - yesterday's incident where the kid had been so spontaneous and reckless with his replies. It almost made Riku feel guilty.

"Because Diz thinks I'm in over my head with power. And it's not easy running the school..."

And he could have left it there, but something about being in a situation where he never would have dream of happening - at the last place and with the last person he could imagine - made it easier for him to spill his thoughts.

"But I don't really care about taking advantage of students and all that stuff. It's just - _I need this position. _It's the only reason people look up to me or respect me...or even talk to me. I _need_ this power over people..."

Sora tilted his head. The other boy may have been his brother's worst enemy. He may have cornered him the other day and scared the hell out of him in counseling today.

But it didn't change the fact that he had saved Sora twice, for no reason at all.

And because it was in Sora's good nature – and because he liked to think he was really good at playing the hero in stories - he couldn't help but be concerned for others.

Because when he meets little children in the parks crying, his first instinct is to comfort them and buy them ice cream out of Roxas' allowance and helping them find their mommies.

It can now be assumed that Sora was the one with better people skills.

"What about your friends?" He asked. Because Sora innocently assumed that all people had friends - and he had never met Sephiroth before.

Riku looked up, not expecting a response. He determined the kid was freaking bipolar if he could bounce back that fast. Glad that he had made that discovery, he replied uncertainly.

"I don't...really have good friends - I guess is a way you can put it."

And then Riku did something he never would be able to explain. Here he was, with a complete stranger - maybe an _imposter _- but still clearly someone associated with his arch nemesis – because it sounded cooler to refer to him that way- and they were _talking_.

Like just talking, like friends. Even though he didn't have any.

And maybe that's why he found it so ironic that he started laughing.

Sora, despite the fact that he didn't see what was so funny, smiled happily as well. A laughing Riku was much better than a homicidal mad one.

When Riku turned back to apologize for the random burst of laughter he spied the friendly expression. That was when he became absolutely sure that this wasn't Roxas.

Not only did the kid never smile, but couldn't possible do so as brilliantly. He bet Sora's smiles could get little abandoned kids in playgrounds to stop crying…

And then he remembered that he was suppose to hate this kid...because he was associated with Roxas...he was probably _related_ to Roxas...oh shit.

Sora, still thinking that they were on friendly terms now continued the conversation. "So why do you hate my brother so much?"

The information shouldn't have come as a surprise to Riku, but he shifted uncomfortably anyways. "Katsurada...is your brother?"

Shit, shit, shit. That was not good. He should have just kept yelling at the kid, crying or not. Why did they have to talk? Why did he have to laugh - why did _he_ have to smile?

If Roxas found out that Riku was getting friendly with his brother, he would undoubtedly castrate him. With a rusty spoon. Or maybe a key. Roxas always had this weird thing for keys…

The other boy, unknowing of Riku's inner turmoil, smiled sheepishly and replied. "Actually he's my twin brother."

Something inside of Riku died violently.

xXxXx

"And I heard he eats students and spits their hearts out and he keeps them in a little jar in his desk and..."

Roxas had stopped yelling at Axel long ago. He was now sitting petrified to his seat and staring at an invisible dot in the wall. Oh how he wished he was invisible like that dot.

Then he wouldn't be in detention for the first time in his life and be forced to have his heart supposedly ripped out and eaten by the vice principle.

But most of all, invisibility would mean that Axel wouldn't be able to see him. And Roxas was absolutely sure that the pervert was _still _staring at him - he was just too scared to move and hit him.

"Demyx stop, you're going to give him a heart attack." Axel looked worriedly over at the blond, who was now no longer facing him so he couldn't stare into those mesmerizing eyes anymore.

"AT LEAST HE STILL _HAS_ ONE!" Exclaimed the musician, point an accusing finger at Roxas's chest.

Axel ignored this and covered the younger boy's ears protectively. If Roxas was anymore unresponsive, Axel was afraid he might go backwards and start being nice to him and sprout compliments.

"I wonder what he'll do with mine..." Demyx seemed lost in a trance as he placed a hand over his heart longingly. "What if he tries to get a bunch of them and make a moon out of hearts..."

The redhead raised an eyebrow questioningly. His hands were starting to get tired but he had to protect Roxas' sanity. If not for their sake, than Sora's.

"You can't make a moon out of random organs Demyx."

"What if instead he got a heart-shaped moon and tried to fill it with hearts?!" At this point, the blond was clutching his shirt fearfully and the trio was starting to draw the attention of others.

"Demyx, that's absurd." Reasoned Axel, disliking the way that the group of stoners in the back of the room were staring at Demyx with a look of dawning realization. The last thing he needed was for this propaganda to get out.

Their vice principal was not some heartless freak that preyed on people's organs...Larxene maybe, but not Saix.

"What if he's late because he's doing that right now!?" A look of terror passed over the musician's face. "I bet he's hungry! I bet he's- ZEXION!"

The figure that appeared at the door only had a nanosecond to prepare himself before a blond boy lunged at him. It was obvious that the teen was familiar with Demyx because he managed to catch the boy in time, despite the amazing speed and velocity of the hug.

"Zexion! Zexion! You're come to save me haven't you?" Demyx then proceeded to give the other boy a bear-hug that would have killed the bear.

Axel's hands dropped onto Roxas' shoulders as he proceeded to give the blue haired boy an evil glare. He would have done something worst but he found that he was actually grateful that the musician was distracted.

At least Roxas' pretty little head wouldn't be filled with lies anymore...yes Roxas' head was pretty. Take it from someone that has been staring at it for the past 2 hours.

Zexion began to gently pry the junior off of him, until he noticed Axel in his peripheral vision.

No…Demyx's arms were just fine right where they were…wrapped around him…in front of Axel…of course. Ha, here comes the glare right now.

"Quick Zexion, if we leave now no one will notice! Oh wait, you still have to save my friends too!"

Demyx turned around and stared at Axel who was currently sending daggers of flame at Zexion while draping himself all over Roxas - a bit too comfortably he might add.

"Err nevermind Zex. Maybe we can just take Roxas instead. But if he slows us down we can leave him behind too."

This caught the older boy's attention. "Roxas?"

Zexion subtly slipped an arm around Demyx waist. It was a small accomplishment, but it was going to go down in his notebook of scheming as a complete success. Next to his poetry.

Yes he wrote poetry, but they were about subatomic particles, neurotransmitters, and DNA science and occasionally Demyx...Shut up. He had to keep the emo image going…

"Who's Roxas?" The senior chanced another glance at Axel, whose glare was surprisingly not as full of fiery-hateful-ness as they usually were. "And why is Axel lounging on Sora in that manner?"

Demyx smiled as he quickly realized that he finally knew something that Zexion didn't. Something that only happens once every four thousands years. He opened his mouth eagerly and obliviously to spill all the secrets of the switch.

"Ha ha, that's no-"

And just as quickly, Axel leap over three desks and a kid to get to Demyx and forcefully close his mouth. An audible click was heard as the blond's teeth knocked against each other, and Axel removed his hand from Demyx's jaw.

He hadn't meant to push him that hard and now it was Zexion's turn to shoot the redhead a glare filled with notebook-shaped daggers.

"Demyx is on crack." Was Axel's automatic response, it worked most of the time.

"Excuse me?!" Was Zexion's.

"Only on Wednesdays!" Shouted Demyx, but quickly shut himself up when both boys stared incredulously at him.

The blue haired boy tightened his grip around Demyx's waist. "How is this relevant to anything, Axel?"

He was mildly surprised to find that Axel didn't react to his possessive hold on Demyx at all. Zexion wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but he felt confident that if he made charts and graphs of this observation it would all make sense later.

"Don't listen to Demyx. He doesn't know what he's saying." Axel groped helpless at excuses. "He thinks Saix is a werewolf that collects moon-shaped hearts and he's been saying it enough times that other people are starting to believe him. Even Sora is starting to believe him. And Roxas isn't real. He's...uh…Demyx's imaginary friend...yeah, let's go with that."

An eyebrow was raised in Axel's direction. "That doesn't explain why Sora's hair is blond."

Demyx looked back and forth between the two boys giving the exchange. This battle of wits usually occurred every time they met - except Axel never really had much wit to begin with so it usually ended up with Zexion winning...and usually set on fire because that made Axel happy.

"We poured a bucket of bleach on him by accident." Replied Axel, not missing a beat.

"Why?"

"We thought he was you."

A single blue narrowed at him dangerously. It was a known fact that Axel hated Zexion's hair. Not only was it a color not yet classified by mankind, but it looked like it was cut by a blind barber...wielding a chainsaw instead of scissors.

Not breaking the glaring contest, Axel asked the obvious question that was probably on everyone's mind. "Zexion, what the hell are you doing in detention?"

Only to be answered by Demyx who replied with what he thought to be the obvious answer. "Duh, he's here to save me! Right?"

It was impossible for Zexion to say 'no' when the blond was tugging on his sleeve with such a hopeful smile. Oh, if only the detention room was sound-proof...and maybe empty. But the latter was optional.

"Demyx, I don't exactly have the authority to remove you from detention..." When Demyx's face fell he quickly elaborated.

Apparently someone had gone on a stabbing rampage and the Advance Physics' classroom across the hall now looked similar to Swiss cheese. Saix was busy reprimanding students and trying to figure out who the culprit was.

Since Zexion was in that class - and now that it seemed he no longer had a classroom to attend to - he offered to take Saix's place in watching over detention while the older man went about hitting suspicious students with glow sticks.

Ha, he _knew _all those years of scheming with the elders would eventually pay off...

Meanwhile, Roxas had been sitting patiently at his seat, waiting for the floor to swallow him up and take him away from this awful place. He hadn't noticed a group of students approach him suspiciously - because when you're all wearing a bunch of long black trench coats near summer, everything you do is considered suspicious.

A tall figure that looked like a man that had been held back many times presented himself in front of Roxas and...said things. Roxas didn't know what these things were because the man was obviously drunk and high and kept slurring his words. At least he thought they were words.

He also said "as if" many times amidst his rambles of "wuillyooohbuuuuaidruuuuuagesfrommehhhh."

And he had an eye patch. And grey hair. And obviously bad English. Roxas's fear induced mind started to ponder briefly on how many times the man must have been held back for. He hoped Axel would save him.

Wait, where did that come from? Oh, it's probably because Axel was saving him right now.

"XIGGY, NO! DON'T SELL HIM DRUGS!" The redhead launched himself on the being that he had dubbed as "Xiggy" and both came tumbling to the floor. A moment later Axel stood up and the other man was still on the ground, talking to the desk legs and negotiation drugs deals with them.

Another coat-clad being on Roxas' right was tackled by Axel as dozens of playing cards flew hazardly into the air. "NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY GO FISH WITH YOU LUXORD! YOU CHEAT LIKE A PANSY!"

As Axel stood up again - prepared to continue with his mission of protecting Roxas from the rest of the Organization gang that Roxas wasn't suppose to know his brother was involved in - he was promptly stabbed by a spear.

"Oww!" He turned around and glared at Xaldin. "I'll get you Xaldy, and your little dog too..."

The comment made the other man tremble in his dreadlocks. You see, Xaldin once had a puppy named Zippy that he secretly told everyone was a dragon. Xaldin had a fetish for dragons. He once took an online quiz that told him his power animal was a dragon. Online quizzes don't lie.

One day he decided to paint Zippy blue and attach batteries to it. This caused Zippy to short circuit when people tried to pet him. This made Xaldin very happy because he always wanted a shiny blue dragon that could electrocute people. Then Zippy ran away.

In reality, Axel had actually stolen Zippy and given him to Demyx to use as a portable battery charger for his amps. Axel decided that this was a very funny story and he was going to tell this to Roxas one day when he stopped hating him.

While Roxas was staring at the retreating backs of the members, Axel was thinking up ways to make his story more heroic in his capture of the evil shiny blue dragon. And Zexion was watching the scene unfold with much interest.

Axel had just left Demyx and Zexion alone together, something that had never happened before. It seems like something was distracting the redhead, and Zexion was going to take full advantage of it.

"Axel, it seems like Sora doesn't look very well." Zexion reluctantly let go of his hold on Demyx as he spoke - but sacrifices had to be made in the name of scheming - and walked over to the other two.

He attempted to press the back of his palm against the blond's forehead, in a gesture that would hint that perhaps the blond was sick and had to leave and therefore Axel would have to follow and then he would be able to be alone with Demyx again and then- well anyways, it failed.

Axel protective tugged Roxas closer to him. The day he let Zexion touch any of his possessions with his slimy emo-poetry writing hands was the day he gave up collecting lighters. Not that Roxas was his property or anything…just his responsibility…for the time being.

And Axel also _knew_ Zexion wrote poetry about darkness and quadratic functions. He had stolen his notebook once and tried to set it on fire, until Demyx found out.

"Sora is _fine_."

"Then why isn't he responding to anything?"

"What are you talking about?"

Axel looked down at Roxas and noticed that he seemed oddly unresponsive when he poke him. The redhead waved a hand in front of the boy, "Helloooooo, Rox-er, Sora? You okay there?"

When it seemed like Roxas had indeed fallen into a vegetable-like state, Axel grew worried. Sora would kill him if his brother went home like that. Sora hated vegetables. And although the brunet might seem like a pacifist that wouldn't hurt a butterfly, having an entire collection of sharp keys thrown at you is can be quite painful.

"Axel, why don't you take Sora outside?" Zexion liked scheming. He was good at scheming. If his mom bought him cloaks instead of those stupid wooly sweaters for Christmas, he would call himself the Cloaked Schemer. It was a fancy name he thought of all by himself.

But all he had were those goddamn sweaters.

"I thought you said we couldn't leave detention?" Axel's eyebrows narrowed. He suspected that Zexion had started to scheme.

"I won't tell anyone. And I'm sure the school would understand if Sora's health was in danger. Why don't you take him to the nurse's office or outside for fresh air?" Scheming scheming scheming...Zexion was such a delightful schemer.

"Fine." Axel lifted the blond to his feet, and surprisingly Roxas could stand. Making sure he wouldn't fall on his own, Axel began directing him towards the door. After a thought, he quickly called out "You coming, Demyx?"

The musician ambled over to the group and shook his head. "Who's going to protect Zexion from being forced into playing Go Fish with Luxord if I leave?"

Axel stared a moment longer at Demyx as if he were about to say something, but then changed his mind, before shaking his head.

"Fine, I'll see you later." And he dragged Roxas out of the door.

xXxXx

Tidus stepped merrily into the counselor's office, and then promptly screamed.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"

He pointed accusingly at the two students sitting next to each other, who had been laughing before he came in. _Laughing?!_ But they were _rivals! _Tidus stared frightfully between the two of them - did the world come to an end? - as they both jumped and noticed him.

Riku was the first to regain his composure, quickly thinking of a lie. "...We were having a funny face competition."

Sora nodded. "But we've stopped now...You won."

The blond boy leaned against the door frame heavily as he scrutinized the two. "Are you sure you two weren't...?" Tidus trailed off the sentence uncertainly.

Well, Riku _did_ say it was a competition, right? And that's kinda like rivalry, right? Although it seemed like an awfully friendly competition to him...

"Whatever." Tidus waved a hand dismissively through the air. As if Roxas and Riku would ever be friendly to each other. Haha, what a funny thought.

Sora let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. On his right he heard Riku mirror his action. That was too close! And not just the intrusion, but he was so close to befriending Riku and figuring out why his brother was enemies with him!

Against Kairi's wishes, Sora had told Riku about the switch up.

_"So where's Katsurada?"_

_"Uh, what are you talking about?! I'm right here?"_

_"I meant your brother..."_

_"Then why didn't you just call him Roxas?! And why do you keep calling us by our last name? We kinda have the same one ya know."_

_"Fine, you're Katsurada number two."_

_"WHAT?! Why am I two?!"_

_"Because you told me he was older."_

The conversation had started off pretty rocky, and Riku glared at him every time Sora called him 'Riku' instead of 'Hamazaki.' He still didn't know why Riku did that. But he was starting to see why Riku didn't have many friends - his conversation skills sucked.

But Sora prided himself in being able to make Riku laugh at one point. Although it had nothing to do with him, since he was just relating the situation at hand. He never realized it before, but Roxas being forced to attend Destiny High and chaperones by gang memories _was _kinda funny.

And then Tidus came. Oh well, Sora would just have to pry into his brother's life later...

"Tidus." Said Riku, taking on authority liked tone. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

The other student smiled - now that the impeding doom of the world had passed - as he crossed the room to stand in front of the counselor's desk. "Actually it's break, and Counselor Jenova isn't here today. You guys are wasting your time waiting for her."

Sora's smile brightened as he jumped out of his seat. He wasn't going to get Roxas in trouble!

But Riku frowned, "You still didn't answer why you're here." He too stood up from his seat, but cross his arms against his chest as he stared at Tidus.

The senior opened one of the drawers in the wooden desk and took a slip of paper out. When Riku's eyes narrowed he showed the other student what was on it reluctantly. "Chill man, it's just a thing for prom."

Sora couldn't help his curiosity and inclined his head to see what it said. It was a document for taking outside students to Oblivion High's dance.

"I thought you were going with Selphie?" Said Sora, before he realized he blurted it out. A hand immediately came up to cover his mouth.

Tidus stared at him, then gave a sheepish smile. "Yeah well...I actually told my ex I would do to prom with her. I kinda promised Yuna, and it'd be mean if I didn't…take her."

After a pause he quickly added. "Plus she's like this famous local singer. I might be able to get into the dance for free if I get her to sing."

"Does Selphie know?" Asked Sora, feeling dejected even though it wasn't his place. The girl had seemed so excited the other day at lunch when she announced to Kairi that she had bought a new lemon-colored dress. Not that Sora paid attention or anything...

Tidus rubbed the back of his neck, looking at anywhere but Sora. "Uh...well." Suddenly, a thought occurred to the blond and he gave Sora a huge smile.

"Hey! She kinda likes you, ya know. Why don't you take her?"

Sora's eye grew wide. He didn't even know Selphie! And he doubted that Roxas even knew she existed...And besides, weren't they dating!? How could he just hand her over like that for an ex? And he was pretty sure Tidus' story about promising Yuna was a lie as well.

"Tidus, shouldn't you be getting back to class now?" Something about the edge in Riku's voice made him sound angry or– _jealous?_ Yet a quick glance at him proved the senior to be wearing a neutral look.

"Oh, right. See ya Riku. Roxas." He nodded his head to each student as he left.

The two remaining students were left in silence as the door closed. Sora had meant to get a conversation going to remedy it. Probably something to do with prom, and if Riku was going and with who and why the hell did Roxas not mention it?

Until Riku completely ignored him and made for the door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Sora clung to Riku's arm quite pitifully, stopping the senior who tried fervently to reach the doorknob as if his life depended on it.

But Sora held on, with no intention of letting go. If he had to go back and spend the rest of his day with Kairi and Yuffie and their mob of girls he would kill himself. There was only so much he could say about shoes…

"Back to class." Riku helplessly struggled in Sora's grip.

He _had_ to get out of this room. Not only had he accidentally gotten too friendly with Roxas' twin brother, but _Tidus_ had seen them talking civilly as well. If he didn't get out now, he might start something he shouldn't.

"Aren't we excused or something for going to the counselor's office?" Asked Sora, getting worried as the two inches between Riku's fingers and the doorknob were steadily getting smaller.

He tried thinking of more excuses. "Wouldn't the teachers be expecting that we don't show up for class?" And that got Riku to stop squirming.

"Are you suggesting…" He asked, his eyes narrowed and his practiced condescending tone - which he tried out in the mirror multiple times each day - surfacing. "…that we skip class?"

Sora smiled brightly. Perhaps Axel _was_ a bad influence on him after all.

"Katsurda, that's completely against school rules. I can't allo-" Started Riku with a frown, but was interrupted – not only by the statement, but by the pout that accompanied it. Goddamn that pout.

"And kicking Seifer in the crotch like that wasn't…?"

"….."

"….."

And the next thing he knew, Riku was dragged away – kicking and screaming and protesting quite loudly – to his destiny. I mean doom. Yeah, doom.

xXxXx

A long long time ago, Zexion met Demyx for the first time.

After locking himself in his room to analyze his emotions and prepare a powerpoint of all things that were Demyx, he discovered that he might have a crush on the boy. He told his best friend Larxene this, to which she responded with a conclusive "Duh."

And despite Larxene's relation with Axel, the blonde girl agreed to help Zexion win over Demyx's heart. The training had been rigorous, and at many times he failed to see how Larxene's advice would help him in the first place.

_"See, Demyx likes emo boys."_

_"What the fuck is emo?"_

_"…We'll get to that."_

So began Zexion's quest to be emo. Despite the fact that no one knew what exactly it was. But it seemed to be working because he found many people in the hallways discussing it. Many argued that he was clearly emo and liked to brood on darkness and hearts all day and barely talked. Others claimed that this was ridiculous! That Zexion was a respected individual who was merely dark and mysterious and quite intelligent.

Zexion hated those people.

They just reminded him that he failed at being emo. _HE WAS TRYING, WASN'T HE?! _

_"I don't really understand what I'm supposed to do. Am I supposed to have too much emotion? Or not enough emotion?"_

_"Neither. Emo doesn't stand for 'emotion.' Wikipedia said it stands for 'emotive.'"_

_"What the fuck is emotive?" _

_"I have no idea. But we'll get to that…."_

Didn't anyone think to ask him if he wanted to be emo if the first place?! What if really did want to - but was just doing a bad job of it?

What if when Larxene told him he was suppose to cut himself, Zexion picked up a scalpel instead and asked her what purpose would dissecting his wrist serve? Or when he tried to write poetry no one told him he wasn't suppose to describe tears as fluids containing mucin, lactoferrin, lipocalin,sodium, lacritin, and immunoglobulins?

For anyone who hasn't tried - being emo was hard, dammit…

"Hey Zexion! What are we going to do for the rest of detention?"

Zexion looked up and smiled at Demyx as the boy interrupted his thoughts.

_Dammit! Emo kids didn't smile! _They brooded. But he couldn't find anything to brood about! Oh look, this desk they were sitting on was hard, and…wooden. It was clearly not comfortable and thus hindered his ability to be happy…yeah let's go with that.

But when the blond smiled back, Zexion immediately dismissed that thought to the back of his head. _Emo kids could smile if it made Demyx smile too_, he decided.

"I don't have anything planned. What would you like to do, Demyx?"

The musician placed his chin on his palm as he adapted a thinking pose that look strangely adorable on him. Whatever it was Demyx planned on doing, Zexion would go along with unhesitantion. Besides, it was probably something water-related.

"Let's talk about Axel!"

And suddenly Zexion understood the mean of emo as he found something to brood about.

But Demyx continued on without noticing the helpless look on the other's face. "Have you noticed he's been acting kinda strange lately, Zex?"

"No, I haven't." Replied Zexion with feign interest. "How so?"

"Well, ever since Sora switched places with his twin at Oblivion High so Roxas could take his final exams for him – Axel's been trying to be friends with him! And that's cool and all 'cept Roxas thinks he's weird and that I think that makes Axel sad."

Zexion stared, a bit loss for words at the massive amount of information.

"I wish Roxas would just be friends with Axel already! I mean he keeps staring at Roxas…and trying to talk to him…and he lets Roxas yell at him…and today he fought off Xigbar for him. I mean that's pretty intense and…"

And suddenly Zexion lost the concept of being emo again. How could someone possibly brood when they were so happy?!

"Wow, I sure hope Sora is okay at Oblivion. I haven't heard from him in a while….and hey Zexion, are you still listening? You haven't said anything yet and gosh – I'm thirsty!"

The blue haired boy raised a hand to get Demyx to pause, and immediately reached under the desk they sat upon for his bag. He pulled out two water bottles, both _Deer Park_ brands - because Demyx liked woodland animals as much as he liked fishes.

And no it was not creepy that Zexion new which brand of water Demyx liked best…

"Yay! Water! You're awesome Zex." The teen nearly dropped the bottles as Demyx hugged him.

The blond pulled back much took quickly for Zexion's taste, but it didn't matter. Their little moment of "Zemyx-ness," as he had began to call their interactions in his notebook, was a complete success. This was going to go down next to his quantum physics.

"Anyways, do you think there's something wrong with Axel?"

Demyx chugged his entire water bottle, which might be disturbing to some since the action only took a second, but Zexion found it oddly cute…in a disturbing way.

He generously offered his own full bottle to the other boy, which Demyx took happily. And in the short time span it took for Demyx to finish it, Zexion came to an up-lifting discovery.

Perhaps Larxene had figure out that there was something going on between Axel and the new kid as well. Even if neither of them– or Demyx, but that was okay – had. And maybe _that_ was the reason behind Larxene's spontaneous stabbing fest in the chemistry lab.

So he would be free to visit Demyx in detention and leave Axel and Roxas alone?

And despite the random delinquents still in the room – who were all paying attention to the Organization trio in the back as Xaldin was busy spearing cards and random people, Xigbar was busy dodging the spears while simultaneously accusing Luxord of cheating, and Luxord was busy…cheating – Zexion found the atmosphere to be cheery and Axel-free.

Not even his failed attempts of emo-ness could ruin the afternoon that he and Demyx had solely to themselves now. And with a smile he turned to the other boy. "Nope, nothing's wrong."

Demyx cocked his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Ya sure?"

Zexion's smile grew wider as he nodded. "Positive, now let's stop talking about Axel."

xXxXx

* * *

**Indigo:** Sorry about the awful delay, my brother is back from college now and he spends much of his time on the computer. I had to sneak on at night to finish…20 pages – yay XD. And sorry if anyone was offended by me poking fun at Zexion, I just think the whole "HE'S EMO!" vs. "NO HE'S NOT! HE'S JUST MYSTERIOUS!" thing on ffnet is funny. XD 

AHHH! I'm so excited for the next chapter. I plan on getting this fic half way done by the end of summer! Even if that means I have to update once every week now….wait. I didn't just say that. XD And challenges! I found that I write much better if there is a deadline to give me stress. So go check out _Say Anything_ or _Color Me Imaginary_ - I'll heart you foreveeeeer. And **cnfzdpsychosis** I shall do your challenge and if anyone has a challenge then _tell meeeh_, because I am so bad at finding them. D:

In other news, **Hikari Aiyano** wrote me a storyyy. Which is kinda cool since I've never had anything dedicated to me before. –hugs- (It's called _Glass Hearts_…) I shall write you something back.

And one of these days I will learn how to write a shorter author's note.

REVIEW!


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